
Glass. 



Book I_ 




i=~ !":-. :.:-^i 



^7^-. /%&^/L4Lj& 



- 



THE 



ASTRONOMY OF THE BIBLE. 



JJi 




0. M.-MITCHEL, LL.D. ; 



FORMERLY DIRECTOR OF THE CINCINNATI AND DUDLEY 0BSERVAT0RIR8 J 

AUTHOR OF "PLANETARY AND STELLAR WORLDS," AND " POPULAR 

astronomy;' 1 LATE MAJOR-GENERAL of V. 8. vols. 



WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



NEW YOKK : 
OAKLEY & MASON, 

21 MURRAY STREET. 



1868 



35 6S\r 

PROF. MITCHEL'S BOOKS. 



PLANETARY AND STELLAR WORLDS 

1 toI. 12mo. Illustrated. 



POPULAR ASTRONOMY. 

1 vol. 12mo. . Illustrated. 



ASTRONOMY OF THE BIBLE. 

I vol. 12mo. . With steel portrait. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1863, by 

E. W. MITCH EL, 

Ir the Clerk's OQce cf the District Court of the United States for the SoothlW 

District of New York. 



JUN I iwV 



Smith & AlcDorjoAi, 
Electrotype!*. 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE I. 

ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OP THE BEING OF L GOD. 

FAQS 

The Distinct Character of this Investigation: the Grandeur of the Theme.— 
Does the Physical Universe proclaim the Being of a God?— Is the God thus 
revealed the 6ame august and eternal Being portrayed in our Sacred 
Books ? — The Three Hypotheses concerning the Existence of the Universe : 
first, the Eternity of the Structure ; second, the Eternity of Matter, hut its 
Forms and Perpetuity dependent upon Chance ; third, a Creative God. — 
The first untenable; all Nature gives token of Origin and Growth. There 
Is no Eternity in Man, Animal, or Vegetable ; nor can there be in the 
existent Structure of the Universe.— The 6econd proved impossible, by 
the very act of Eeasoning which is necessary to analyze Nature's Laws. — 
The third Hypothesis clearly stated, and the Discussion begun. — The Argu- 
ment from Analogy teaches us that a Supreme Intelligence must have made 
and must now control this Universe. — The Sun, the System, the Mighty 
Complication, the delicate and complete Adjustment of Parts, the Earth, 
all indicate this. — Still more striking is the Proof when we pass to the 
Consideration of the Stars and the other great Systems 41 



LECTURE II. 

THE GOD OP THE UNIVERSE IS JEHOVAH. 

no God of the Bible : His Power and Majesty as He declares them.- Science 
must accord with Scripture in manifesting Him. — Does the Universe de- 
clare the Unity of God? — Every Day's Development of Astronomy gives 
new Proofs of it, in the perfect narmony which pervades this complex 
System.— The Omnipotence of God likewise taught by this Investigation, 



IT CONTENTS. 

PA61 

in the Creation of these Worlds, in their systematic Arrangement, in now 

holding thern in their Orhits, and compelling them to execute His Will. 
— His Supreme Wisdom likewise displayed in all His Plans, and in the 
perfect Adjustment of all the Parts of the Great System.— His Tfnchange- 
ableness deduced from this Examination. — His Omnipresence established. 
— His Glory manifested at every step. — Summary. — Whence did the Scrip- 
ture Writers derive their Knowledge of God? — The Yoice of Nature pro- 
claims God S3 



LECTURE III. 

THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY THE PRESENT 
STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 

The wonderful Character of the Bible: its fearless Self-exposure to Attack; 
— its "Ethereal Mold, incapable of Stain. 1 '— Compared with Classic Writ- 
ings on Philosophy and Ethics. — Their decay ; its perennial Freshness.— 
The Nebular Hypothesis of Herschel.— La Place's Theory. — The supposed 
atheistical Tendencies. — Truth never shrinks from the Light. — Herschel's 
Experiments. The Nebulae separated; others discerned. The Zodiacal 
Light. — La Place's Application of the Nebular Hypothesis. — Motion o 
Rotation. — Great Eings condensing into Orbs. — Difficult Questions: Forces: 
Principles of their Action. — Will this Theory coincide with the Mosaic 
Account of the Creation 128 



LECTURE IV. 

THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF CREATION, COMPARED WITH THB 
COSMOGONY OF THE UNIVERSE AS REVEALED IN THE 
ACTUAL CONDITION OF ASTRONOMY. 

Analysis of the Words of Moses which explain the Creation, " In the Begin- 
ning;" "The Heavens and the Earth," etc.: the Language scanned. — Mil- 
ton's Fiction concerning Light. — What was this Light which God thus 
called into Being ?— The Days of Creation.— The Firmament.— The Second 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGB 

great Epoch finished —The Third Epoch : the Gathering of the Waters ana 
the Appearance of the Land. — The Existence of Vegetable Life without & 
Sun. The Fourth Epoch: the Great Lights, 4i for Signs and for Seasons, 
for Days and for Years."— The simple Eecord not intended as distinct 
Astronomical Eevelation.— The Creation of Man.— No complete Demonstra- 
tion intended, only an approximate one 171 



LECTURE V. 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSION? IN 
THE BOOK OF JOB. 

The Authorship of the Book : its Antiquity ; its wonderful Statements.- 
God's Answers to Job considered. — Nicer Shades of Meaning in Transit 
tion. — The Bounds of the Ocean. — The Dayspring from on High. — Tides.^- 
The Ocean's Limits fixed while Day and Night endure.— Hesiod's Fancy. — 
Other striking Queries. — Further Consideration of Light. — The Littlenes* 
of Human Science 218 



LECTURE VI. 

THE ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES OF THE BLBLE MLRAO*^S 
OF POWER. 

Such an Inquiry not within our Scope — Astronomy deals with the Phenomena 
of Nature, not the Miracles of God. — The Subject, however, may be in some 
degree illustrated.— The Universe governed by invariable Laws— These 
Miracles seem to suspend them. — The Stopping of the Bun and Moon at 
Joshua's Command, and the Going backward of the Shadow on the Sun- 
dial of Ahaz.— Difficulties of the Subject Can God work Miracles ?— What 

is a Miracle ?— The new Elijah. — The Case of Joshua considered. — How can 
that Miracle be accounted for ? — By stopping the Eotation of the Earth on 
its Axis.— Can this be done without universal Derangement? — Are we to 
suppose that God ^onld do it ? — If asserted as done, can we credit it ? — 
Yes. — Eefraction miraculously applied.— The Miracle of the Sun-dial of 
Ahaz may thus be accounted for. — Further Details of Joshua's Success. — A 



VI CONTENTS. 

PAGfl 

probable Interpolation.— What astronomic Eesearch can discover.— Sup- 
pose the Investigation made, it could only concern the Eotation of the 
Earth. — The Effect of stopping the Eotation. — The New Testament Prophe- 
cies as to the End of the Earth. — Man's Ignorance a Eeason for Eeverenco 
and Faith. — "We know that God lives and speaks, and this is all we need 
to know. — The Superiority of the Moral to the Material 249 



LECTURE VII. 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

rhe Language of the Bible a Proof of its Inspiration.— It differs from that 
of other Oriental Nations, who saw the same Splendors of the Ileavens.— 
The first Sentence in the Bible. — " In the Beginning God created the 
Heavens and the Earth." — A grand Assertion. — No Argument. — The Egyp- 
tian Fancy of the Origin of the Creation. — The Persian.— The Yiews of 
Thales ; of Plato ; of Aristotle ; of Zeno ; of Epicurus. — A further Con- 
sideration of the Mosaic Account. — God's Providence displayed.— Modern 
Science can only begin where Moses left off. — The Lawgiver and the Laws.— 
Undevout Astronomers few- in comparison to the Devout ; — Copernicus, 
Kepler, Tycho, Galileo, Newton. — Quotations from the Old Testament 
"Writers.— Their Language the only fitting Yehicle for tno overwhelming 
Thoughts.— Their Declarations examined.— The Orbit of Neptune. — The 
Milky "Way. — The Habit of using the Language of the Bible causes us to 
forget its Grandeur and Appositeness. — Specific Declarations examined; 
Day and Night ; the Ocean's Bounds.— Beyond our System.— Bessel's Obser- 
vations. — The Foundations of the Earth "Upon Nothing;" Hung in empty 
Space ; Established forever.— St. Paul on Mars' Hill.— Points in his Dis- 
course unanswerable. — Striking Illustration of a rebellious Planet. — God's 
Goodness 2SS 



PREFACE. 

The voluma here offered to the public contains the last 
finished astroromical work of Professor Mitchel ; and, with 
those that he published before his death, constitutes a series 
which, if not exhaustive of the accepted divisions of the 
science, presents, in outline, its great physical features and 
its ethical relations. " The Planetary and Stellar Worlds," 
published in 1848, contained a popular exposition of the 
important discoveries and splendid theories of modern 
astronomy. It traced the progress of the great science 
from the primitive ages, showing how, little by little, the 
true theory dawned upon the feeble mind of man, fearful 
and long unwilling to receive it ; it presented the great laws, 
with copious and eloquent illustration ; it offered clear solu- 
tions of the wondrous problems ; discussed the discovery of 
new planets and the characteristics of the cometary world ; 
displayed the grandeur of the scale upon which the universe 
is built, and showed the benevolent provisions for its perma- 
nent stability. 

The "Popular Astronomy," published in 1860, is a con- 
ise elementary treatise on our sun, planets, satellites, and 
comets ; bringing the lofty truths and mighty laws within 
the scope of popular and youthful comprehension. It is at 



Vlll PREFACE. 

once lucid and eloquent, and serves admirably as a manual 
of instruction. 

The present work is of an entirely different nature from 
both these, but in some sort complementary to them. As a 
devout Christian man, Professor Mitchel was aware of the 
difficulties which beset the honest seeker for truth, by rea- 
son of the neological arguments of the free-thinker, based upon 
an apparent want of harmony between modern astronomy and 
the Bible; and he determined to apply his great practical 
knowledge to a popular exposition of this subject. The day 
seemed to have passed when tbe careless crowd would allow 
the truth of the assertion, "The undevout astronomer is mad ;" 
and he bent his energies to such a work as should extort the 
confession once more from all who heard, or should read 
him. He always intended doubtless, to put these lectures in 
a book form, but they were originally delivered before large 
audiences in many of our principal cities, with the happiest 
effect ; confirming the faith of many, and arousing the devo- 
tion of all. 

But they were never more timely than now. The ex- 
ploded gnosticism of Germany has made its way into Eng- 
land ; has invaded the English Church and assumed our 
English speech. Essayists and reviewers first strike the 
secret blow ; and then an English bishop attacks the faith 
once delivered to the saints, with weapons forged in her own 
armories, and turned against her by her traitors and de- 
serters. Professor Mitchel's work is no designed answer to 
Bishop Colenso's cavils and sophistries — for it was prepared 
before the bishop had started upon his meteoric course ; but 



PREFACE. IX 

it certainly is strangely providential that, while an English 
prelate, whose sworn duty it is to defend the Church, smites 
it with parricidal hand, an American astronomer, who, in 
the following of many of his scientific co-workers, might 
have been expected to doubt, or, at the least, to be supremely 
indifferent, rises from his grave, as it were, to confront him 
with a chastened, instructed, and devout belief, and to answer 
his shallow learning with words of " truth and soberness." 

Those who look in this volume, however, for an arrogant 
demonstration of positive harmony between astronomy and 
the Bible, will be disappointed : its author does not pretend 
to make out a case. The proof of perfect harmony can only 
be found in the full development of science ; it can only be 
stated now as an increasing probability. The earlier stages 
of science presented singular apparent errors in the Scripture 
accounts : as science has progressed, many of the discrep- 
ancies have disappeared ; every day throws new light into 
dark places ; and, as difficulty after difficulty is cleared 
away, we reason, not illogically, to a time when this perfect 
harmony shall be morally demonstrated. When the nebular 
hypothesis of Herschel, and the consequent investigations of 
Laplace, were first brought to light, they were regarded as 
an impious attempt upon the Mosaic account of the creation : 
it was a prejudged case ; no orthodox Christian, not an edu- 
cated astronomer, dared to examine them, hardly, indeed, to 
glance at them ; and yet, Professor Mitchel, boldly accept- 
ing the scientific investigations and deductions of these 
astronomers as worthy of careful examination, has given a 
brilliant elucidation of the Bible narrative by their means ; 



X PEEFACE. 

and in the light thus thrown upon the subject, we see new 
elements of a harmony which time alone can perfect. 

By means of a few pages he has left, in fragmentary form, 
we know that it was his purpose to continue this subject by 
considering the relations of astronomy to Christianity, or the 
harmony of the science with the record of the New Testa- 
ment. From this fragment a few lines may be quoted. 
After giving, in rapid summary, the points discussed in these 
lectures, he says : 

"Admitting that we have been successful in exhibiting the 
above facts under a light satisfactory to the thoughtful and 
candid, there still remains the grand question, that that 
Almighty Being who created all things by the word of His 
power, who hath built the universe in wisdom, who inhabit- 
cth eternity, who filleth immensity by His presence, who is 
the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, — could have conde- 
scended to clothe Himself with the garments of humanity, 
to suffer indignity and insult, and injury and death, at the 
hands of His own creatures, upon this globe that we inhabit, 
which itself is but an atom in the infinite empire of the ever- 
living God. 

" To the candid searcher after truth, who is willing to be 
convinced ; who is anxious to believe the great mystery of 
God manifest in the flesh ; who would gladly accept the 
doctrine of an infinite Saviour dying upon the cross to atone 
for the sins of mortals, here, undoubtedly, will be found a 
difficulty far greater than all others hitherto considered, and 
rising far above them all in power and resistance. 

" It would not be fair, therefore, to close our investigation 



PREFACE. XI 

and end the discussion without an attempt, feeble as it may 
be, to elucidate this last great subject. I know the theme is 
difficult ; I comprehend fully the nature of the task I am 
about to undertake ; and while I can not hope to remove 
doubt from the mind of any one, I may yet venture to sug- 
gest a train of thought which, if carried to its legitimate 
results, may lead the struggling mind out of the dim regions 
of doubt into the clear atmosphere of faith and hope." 

We may regret that he was unable to complete this grand 
investigation; for as Christianity is the prophetic purpose 
and end of the Old Testament scriptures, so all science must 
be made to harmonize not simply with the older record, but 
with the perfected plan of man's redemption. 

Deploring, as we do, the country's loss in the death of so 
energetic and skillful a general, it is to be observed that, as 
a man of science, his death was especially premature. As 
he entered the army purely and solely from patriotic mo- 
tives, he would doubtless have left it immediately upon the 
announcement of an honorable peace, and gone back with 
an ardor sharpened by his forced relinquishment of science, 
to his astronomical studies. He had, to all human appear- 
ance, a brilliant future still before him. He was still, at the 
time of his death, director of both the observatories, at Cin- 
cinnati and Albany, and found time, amid his military duties, 
to send instructions to the assistants in charge, and to keep 
himself acquainted with the condition of the institutions. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

The subject of this sketch, and the distinguished 
author of the following pages, had achieved such brilliant 
success in science and in arms, that the detailed story of 
his life would be read with eager interest by his admiring 
countrymen. It is to be hoped that such a biography 
will not be withheld j not alone in eulogy of his virtues 
and his achievements, but as a bright example to our- 
selves and to our children. It is not, however, the pur- 
pose of the writer, here and now, to present these details. 
In offering to the world his lectures on the Astronomy 
of the Bible, as a posthumous publication, it is only 
intended to glance, in this preliminary sketch, at the 
principal objective points in that eager, ardent, devout, 
and energetic life, as a fitting exordium to those last and 
fervently pious words which, he being "dead, yet speak- 
eth" : thus to present to the reader the lecturer with his 
lectures ; to show what manner of man he was who thus 
rushes ardently, armed with scientific research, to the 
support of the faith so variously attacked, and apparently 
imperiled, in this day of more than Athenian novelties 
and curiosity. 



14: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

Ormsby McKnight Mitchel was born in Union 
County, Kentucky, on the 28th of August, 1810. He 
had the misfortune to lose his father when he was three 
years old, and thus from his early infancy he was left 
to battle with the world, and win such a place in its 
esteem as the God-given genius and indomitable energy 
he possessed might secure for him. Immediately after 
his father's death his family removed to Ohio ; and at 
twelve years of age he became a clerk in a store in the 
town of Miami, from whence, however, not long after, he 
moved with his family to Lebanon. A bright and in- 
quiring boy, he soon found the plodding and menial 
duties of a country store tame, painful, and unsatisfac- 
tory. 

Always eager in the pursuit of learning, and especially 
of that practical knowledge which could clear the wilder- 
ness and build towns like magic in our then wild as well 
as far West, he bent his energies toward procuring an 
appointment to the Military Academy at "West Point, 
where, he had been told, such instruction was given at 
the expense of the government, and an assured future 
lay beyond to the honorable graduate. He was suc- 
cessful; he entered the Military Academy on the 23d 
of June, 1825, when not yet fifteen years old — being 
admitted, by special favor, a year earlier than the law 
allowed. His standing while a cadet was always high ; 
and his pursuit of knowledge, in all its forms, eager and 



BIOGKAPHICAL NOTICE. 15 

persevering. Among his classmates were the most dis- 
tinguished generals at present in our own or the rebel 
service ; among the latter were Lee and Joseph Johnston. 
His letters to his mother and brother during this period 
all represent him as an eager student and ambitious in 
his aims. 

In 1829 he graduated with honor, and was appointed 
a second lieutenant in the second artillery. So favorable 
was the impression produced by his novitiate, that he was 
very soon detailed for duty at the academy, as Assistant 
Professor of Mathematics. He was afterward, for a 
short time, stationed at St. Augustine, in Florida. But 
the prospects of the army at that period could not satisfy 
the energy and honorable ambition of such a man as 
Mitchel. He resigned on the 30th of September, 1832, 
with no fortune, and no prospect but in persevering labor 
to achieve fame, usefulness, and honor. 

It is worthy of record, as illustrative of his character, 
that just after his graduation the French Revolution 
broke out ; —those " three days of July" which drove the 
" legitimate" Bourbons once more from the throne they 
were unworthy to occupy, and elevated the citizen-king, 
Louis Philippe, to the seat of power. Many remember 
the effect produced by this volcanic eruption all over the 
civilized world. Our young soldier was not exempt from 
the pervading influence. His letters to his. brother ex- 
press an unsettled condition of mind, and a growing desire 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

to go to Europe and plunge, sword in hand, into the 
great wars which he believed would grow out of this 
change of dynasty. This is mentioned as betokening his 
quickly-kindled enthusiasm, his desire to exercise his 
newly- acquired powers, and his ardent but honorable 
ambition for distinction. The spirit of revolution which 
France evoked, and which stalked for a brief space 
through Europe, was soon laid, and Mitchel settled, as 
has been told, into the quiet but hard-working life of a 
citizen. 

While in the army he had married Mrs. Trask, the 
widow of Lieutenant Trask, and formerly Miss Louisa 
Clark, of Cornwall, on the Hudson. In his growing 
family he found new incentives to labor ; and so we see 
him, in 1832, opening an office as counsellor-at-law in 
Cincinnati. In this position he remained until the 
establishment of the Cincinnati College in 1834, when 
he was elected Professor of Mathematics, Philosophy, 
and Astronomy. This post he held until the sad and 
untimely destruction of the college buildings by fire, and 
the consequent dissolution of the college. But what 
seemed his misfortune was in reality a great blessing. 
In the routine of academic duties he might have remained 
satisfied ; but when once more thrown upon his own 
remarkable energies, his "sleepless soul" undertook 
grand and original adventures. 

During the period of his professorship he could still 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 17 

find time to devote to other public duties. From 1836 
to 1837 he was chief engineer of the Little Miami Rail- 
road. He had, while in the army, acquired some expe- 
rience in railway engineering, which was to prove of 
value on many occasions during his life of peace, and 
to find brilliant illustrations during his brief but splendid 
military career. But his principal study was astronomy, 
the objective science which kindled his ardor and claimed 
all his devotion. Amid the drudgery of the lawyer's 
office j while teaching the elements of mathematics and 
mechanics ; in the practical, busy life of a railway 
engineer, the stars shone upon him with that potent 
influence with which in earlier days they had been sup- 
posed to shine upon every man. For him, we may 
almost believe, there was a horoscope,* and that all the 
planets were conjoined in its composition. 

In 1842 he undertook to establish the Cincinnati 
Observatory — now The Mitchel Observatory — a gigantic 
labor, which would have been too much for talent, energy, 
and industry less than his own. Of the difficulties which 
he encountered we may best judge by his own narrative. 
Writing, in 1848, he says : " My attention had been for 
many years directed to this subject (the erection of a 
great astronomical observatory in the city of Cincinnati), 
by the duties of the professorship, which I then held in 
the college. In attempting to communicate the great 
truths of astronomy, there were no instruments at hand 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

to confirm and fix the wonderful facts recorded in the 
books. Up to that period our country, and the West par- 
ticularly, had given but little attention to practical 
astronomy. A few individuals, with a zeal and ardor 
deserving of all praise, had struggled on to eminence 
almost without means or instruments. An isolated tele- 
scope was found here and there scattered through the 
country ; but no regularly organized observatory, with 
powerful instruments, existed within the limits of the 
United States, so far as I know. * * * 

" To ascertain whether any interest could be excited 
in the public mind in favor of astronomy, in the spring 
of 1842 a series of lectures was delivered in the hall of 
the Cincinnati College. To give an increased effect to 
these discourses (which were unwritten, and in a style 
of great simplicity), a mechanical contrivance was pre- 
pared, by the aid of which the beautiful telescopic views 
in the heavens were presented to the audience, with a 
brilliancy and power scarcely inferior to that displayed 
by the most powerful telescopes. To this fortunate in- 
vention were these lectures (' The Planetary and Stellar 
Worlds'), no doubt, principally indebted for the interest 
which they produced, and which occasioned them to be 
attended by a very large number of the intelligent per- 
sons in the city. Encouraged by the large audiences, 
which continued through two months to fill the lecture- 
room, and still more by the request to repeat the last 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



10 



lecture of the course in one of the great churches of the 
city, I matured a plan for the building of an observatory, 
which it was resolved should be presented to the audience 
at the close of the lecture, in case circumstances should 



favor. * * •* 



" In Europe, imperial treasure and princely munifi- 
cence could build the temples of science ; under a free 
government no such means existed, and to accomplish 
the erection of these great scientific institutions, the 
intelligent liberality of the whole community was the 
only resource. But it had been denied that this resource 
could be relied on ; and it had been roundly asserted that, 
in the nature of things, the United States must ever 
remain grossly defective in all the appliances for scien- 
tific research. To test the truth or falsehood of these 
statements was not a difficult matter ; and thus encour- 
aged by the interest already manifested in behalf of 
astronomy, I had already resolved to devote Jive years 
of faithful effort to accomplish the erection of a great 
astronomical observatory in the city of Cincinnati. 

" This announcement was received with every mark 
of favor, and the following simple plan was at once pre- 
sented. The entire amount required to erect the build- 
ings and purchase the instruments, should be divided 
into shares of twenty-five dollars ; every shareholder to 
be entitled to the privileges of the observatory, under the 
management of a board of control, to be elected by the 



2U BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

shareholders. Before any subscription should become 
binding, the names of three hundred subscribers should 
be first obtained. This accomplished, these three hun- 
dred should meet, organize, and elect a board, who should 
thenceforward manage the affairs of the association. 

" Such is the history of the origin of the Cincinnati 
Astronomical Society. * * * 

" On the second day I started for New York, and on 
the 16th of June, 1842, sailed for Liverpool. Having 
visited many of the best appointed observatories both in 
England and on the continent (in each and every one of 
which I was received with a degree of kindness and 
attention for which I acknowledge the deepest obliga- 
tions), and having been unsuccessful in finding, either in 
London or Paris, an object-glass of the size required, I 
finally determined to visit the city of Munich. The 
fame of the optical institute of the celebrated Frauen- 
hofer had even reached the banks of the Ohio ; and it 
was hoped that, in that great manufactory, an instrument 
such as the society desired might be obtained, if not com- 
pleted, at least in such a state of forwardness as to per- 
mit it to be furnished at an early day. In this I was 
not disappointed. An object-glass of nearly twelve 
inches diameter, and of superior finish, was found in the 
cabinet of M. Mertz, the successor of Frauenhofer. This 
glass had been subjected to a severe trial in the tube 
of the great refractor of the Munich observatory, by 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 21 

Dr. Lamont, and had been pronounced of the highest 
quality. 

" To mount this glass would require about two years, at 
a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars ; a sum consider- 
ably greater than that appropriated at the time for an 
equatorial telescope. Having made a conditional arrange- 
ment for this and other instruments, I returned to Green- 
wich, England, where, at the invitation of Professor 
Airy, the Astronomer Royal, I remained for some time 
to study. Having accomplished the objects of my jour- 
ney, I returned home, and rendered a report to a very 
large meeting of the members of the association and other 
citizens of Cincinnati. * * * 

'''The principal instrument having been ordered, and the 
first payment on its cost made, attention was now given 
to the procuring of a suitable site for the building. For- 
tunately for the society, the place of all others most per- 
fectly adapted to their wants, was then the property of 
Nicholas Long worth, Esq. It is a lofty hill-top, rising 
some four hundred feet above the level of the city, and 
commanding a perfect horizon in all directions. On 
making known to Mr. Longworth the prospects and wants 
of the Astronomical Society, the writer was directed by 
him to select four acres on the hill- top, out of a tract 
of some twenty-five acres, and to proceed at once to 
enclose it, as it would give him great pleasure to present 
it to the association. On compliance with the conditions 



VV BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

of the title-bond, a deed has since been received, placing 
the society in full possession of this elegant position. 

1 '• Preparations were now made to commence the erec- 
tion of the building for the observatory. The grounds 
were enclosed, a road built, rendering access to the hill- 
top comparatively easy, the excavations for the founda- 
tions were made, and, on the 9th day of November, 1843, 
the corner-stone of the pier which was to sustain the 
great Refracting Telescope was laid by John Quincy 
Adams, with appropriate ceremonies. On this occasion 
Mr. Adams made his last great oration. The deep inter- 
est which he had taken in astronomical science warranted 
the hope that he might be induced to visit the West on 
the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the first 
great popular observatory ever erected in the United 
States. This hope was not disappointed. The unaffected 
devotion of this truly great man to the interests of his 
country, were, perhaps, never more perfectly exhibited 
than in his ready acquiescence to comply with the wishes 
of the Astronomical Society, that he should perform for 
them the important services on which the future success 
of this new enterprise in no small degree depended. His 
high character, his advanced age, the length of the jour- 
ney, the inclemency of the season, all combined to ex- 
hibit to his countrymen the depth of his interest in a 
cause which could induce such sacrifices. 

" After the laying of the corner-stone, the lateness of 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 23 

the season, and other causes, induced a suspension of the 
work on the building for the winter; and it was not 
resumed until May, 1844. In the mean time, after 
incredible difficulty, the entire amount called for in the 
payment for the great telescope, was collected and remit- 
ted ; and the society was left with scarcely a dollar of 
available means, to commence the erection of a building 
which, according to the plan, would cost some seven or 
eight thousand dollars." 

"At length, however, the building was reared, and 
finally covered in, without incurring any debt. But the 
conditions of the bond, by which the lot of ground was held, 
required the completion of the observatory in two years 
from its date ; and these two years would expire in June, 
1845. It was seen to be impossible to carry forward the 
building fast enough to secure its completion by the 
required time, without incurring some debt. My own 
private resources were used, in the hope that a short 
time after the finishing of the observatory would be suffi- 
cient to furnish the funds to meet all engagements. The 
work was pushed rapidly forward. In February, 1845, 
the great telescope safely reached the city of Cincinnati ; 
and in March the building was ready for its reception. 
I had now exhausted all my private means, and, to 
increase the difficulty of the position in which I was 
placed, the College edifice took fire and burned to the 



24 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

ground. My ordinary means of support were thus 
destroyed at a single blow. I had engaged to conduct 
the observatory, without compensation from the society, 
for ten years, in the hope that my college salary would 
be sufficient for my wants. It was impossible to abandon 
the observatory. The college could not be rebuilt, at 
least for several years, and in this emergency I found it 
necessary to seek some means of support, least inconsist- 
ent with my duties in the observatory. My public lec- 
tures at home had been comparatively well received, and 
after much hesitation it was resolved to make an experi- 
ment elsewhere. For five years I had been pleading the 
cause of science among those little acquainted with its 
technical language. I had become habituated to the use 
of such terms as were easily understood ; and probably 
to this circumstance, more than to any other one thing, 
am I indebted for any success which may have attended 
my public lectures. To the citizens of Boston, Brook- 
lyn, New York, and New Orleans, for the kindness with 
which they were pleased to receive my imperfect efforts, 
I am deeply indebted. My lectures were never written, 
and no idea was entertained of publishing a course, until 
the partiality of my friends induced me to attempt this 
experiment." 

Thus it was that in 1842 he began his remarkable 
career as a lecturer on astronomy. More than any other 
man in America has he thus accomplished for his favor- 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 25 

ifce science : besides the observatory he founded, and the 
instruments he imported — and to which he has greatly 
added by his improvements and inventions — he awakened 
in thousands of minds an interest in the subject, in- 
structed popular assemblies, not only by his clear out- 
lines of the gigantic science, but by his masterly handling 
of its difficult and abstruse theories and problems, and 
by his fiery words, which, exhibiting his own knowledge 
and enthusiasm, told of its divine beauties and relations, 
and kept crowded audiences all over the country in 
breathless and delighted attention. 

He had surveyed the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad 
in 1844 ; and when the enterprise was fairly undertaken 
and the road placed under contract, he was sent to 
Europe by the Company, as a confidential agent on the 
business of the road, in 1853 • and again, on the same 
business, in 1854. For some time he was connected 
with the Eastern division of that road, and was chiefly 
instrumental in bringing it to a successful completion. 

In the summer of 1860 he was appointed Director of 
the Dudley Observatory ; and without a reference to the 
unhappy difficulties which beset that institution at the 
beginning, it may be said that his acceptance of the post 
restored quiet, and produced the greatest usefulness of 
which the observatory was instrumentally and financially 
capable. It was still under his direction at the time of 
his death. 

2 



26 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

When the war broke out, Professor Mitchel, urged 
singly and purely by patriotic motives, placed his ser- 
vices at the disposition of the government, and devoted 
his life and military knowledge to his country. On the 
9th of August, 1861, he was appointed a Brigadier- 
General of Volunteers, and was placed in command of the 
Department of the Ohio, with his head-quarters at Cin- 
cinnati. While there he carefully surveyed the ap- 
proaches to the town, built redoubts and projected 
lines at the prominent points, which doubtless served a 
good purpose w T hen, at a later day, Cincinnati was threat- 
ened by an overwhelming rebel force. 

When the Departments of the Ohio and the Cumber- 
land were afterward united, General Mitchel was ordered 
to report to General Buell ; and he was then placed in 
command of a camp of rendezvous, where he was actively 
receiving, organizing, and forwarding troops for three 
weeks. At the expiration of this brief period he was 
appointed to the command of the third division of the 
Army of the Ohio, then stationed at Elizabetown, 
Kentucky. If we particularize in dates and posi- 
tions, it is that the reader may trace the rapid and 
energetic movements of General Mitchel the more 
intelligibly. 

On the 9th of February, 1862, he was at Bacon 
Creek ; on the 13th he started for Bowling Green, until 
then the strongest point on the strategic line of the rebel 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 27 

army. Forced marches, in themselves a wonderful feat 
with new troops, brought him to Bowling Green on the 
15th. On the 22d he started, with General Buell, for 
Nashville ; and it is worth recording that that city was 
surrendered to Colonel Kennett, of the Fourth Ohio 
Cavalry, for General Mitchel, on Sunday evening, Feb- 
ruary 23. The surrender is publicly believed to have 
been made to General Nelson. But that officer did not 
arrive with his division to occupy the place until three 
days after it had capitulated to General Mitchel. He 
had now entered upon those brilliant independent move- 
ments which had excited the admiration of the whole 
country, and which, could he have received timely and 
adequate reinforcements, would have redeemed the entire 
region in which they were made. Early in March he 
was at Murfreesboro' , where, putting his railroad experi- 
ence into practice, he improvised twelve hundred feet of 
bridges. Leaving Murfreesboro' on the 6th of April, he 
marched to Shelby ville; on the 10 th he was at Fayette- 
ville ; and on the 11th at Huntsville, in Alabama. Here, 
again, the railway engineer supplied valuable general- 
ship. Seizing the rolling stock, he immediately sent out 
two railway expeditions, east and west — the one to Deca- 
tur, and the other to Stevenson, on the Memphis and 
Charleston Railroad. The expedition to Stevenson he 
conducted in person. Both places were captured, and 
Northern Alabama was in Federal possession, one hun- 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

dred and twenty miles of the railroad being in running 
condition, and guarded by Mitchel's troops. 

For this brilliant achievement he was made a Major- 
General of Volunteers, to date from April 11, the day of 
the capture of Huntsville. 

On the 2d of July, General Mitchel was ordered to 
report himself at Washington.- He was there in person 
on the 5th. From that time he was waiting for orders 
until September 12th, when he started for the important 
command of the Tenth Army Corps, the head- quarters 
of which were at Hilton Head, South Carolina. He 
reached there on the 16th. His coming infused new life 
into the department ; and he was maturing his plans for 
a grand movement when he was called away from earth. 
He sent an expedition to the St. John's River, which 
captured the fort, with many heavy guns ; and also a 
force to Pocotaligo, for the purpose of destroying the 
Charleston and Savannah Railroad and telegraph, in 
which it was successful. He also drew Beauregard out 
of Savannah with twenty-five thousand men. What he 
further intended can not be told ; but every day, had he 
lived, would have disclosed the character of his projects, 
of which these movements were but the initiation. 

While in the midst of his usefulness and rapidly- 
maturing plans, he was attacked by the yellow fever on 
Sunday, the 26th of October, and died on October 30, 
1862, in Beaufort, S. C. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 29 

Such, briefly, is the record of his life : the meagre 
recital is full of valuable lessons, and leads the scholar, 
the patriot, the soldier; and the Christian to moralize 
upon the great loss the country has sustained, while they 
eulogize his genius, his talents, his virtues, his piety, 
and his lofty achievements. Few men of our age have 
exhibited a more extended genius ; and we know of no 
one who has displayed so much energy in every thing 
he has undertaken. His character will bear minute 
analysis : in every department of labor he was eminently 
successful ; in many he was truly great. 

As a man of science Professor Mitchel was an ardent 
investigator and an eminently practical inventor. Fully 
imbued with the poetry of science, delighting in the 
lofty picturesques of astronomic thought, abounding in 
the rarest imagery in his public teachings, his truest 
sphere was in the mechanism of the means for scientific 
observation and labor. To prepare himself as director 
of the observatory, he had studied and mastered the 
higher astronomical mathematics, and was thoroughly 
conversant with the history of the science. To qualify 
himself as a public teacher, he had resolved the most dif- 
ficult problems into such simple forms and such lucid 
language as to make them clear to many who had 
regarded it impossible to comprehend them. To give 
himself facility in observing, he had studied under 
Professor Airey, the Astronomer Royal of England, afe 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

Greenwich ; and to understand the scientific relations of 
astronomy as they appear in the cosmogony of the uni- 
verse, he had investigated those sister sciences which, 
while they are distinct elements of the great subject, come 
forward, in harmonious concourse, to cast their tribute at 
the feet of Him who dictated the record of Moses. 

As a mechanical inventor he may be best presented by 
placing in this connection some account of the principal 
instruments which he created, for facilitating observa- 
tions. 

The following description of the Declinometer is fur- 
nished through the kindness of Mr. G. W. Hough, the 
astronomer in charge of the Dudley Observatory : 

" Method invented by Professor Mitchel for deter- 
mining difference of Declination. 

" The apparatus for observing difference of declination 
consists of the following : 

" To the axis of the transit telescope is attached a 
metallic arm of sixty inches in length ; in the lower end 
of this arm is screwed a cylindrical pin one eighth of an 
inch in diameter, at right angles to the arm and parallel 
to the supporting axis of the telescope. This pin has a 
notch or groove (of the form which would be generated 
by placing the vertices of two isosceles triangles together 
and revolving about the perpendicular) cut in the middle. 

" At a distance of twenty-three inches from the pin, 
and in the same horizontal plane, is mounted in Y's a 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 31 

small telescope of six inches focal length. The support- 
ing axis of this telescope is parallel to that of the transit. 
Underneath the center of the small telescope, and con- 
nected with it, is a short arm two inches in length ; and, 
by means of a joint, a rod is connected with the pin 
before mentioned. 

' i No'W when the transit telescope is moved in zenith- 
distance, angular motion is given to the small telescope 
by means of the long arm and connecting rod. 

"The amount of this motion is read from a scale, 
placed at a distance of fifteen feet, and divided to single 
seconds of arc. It will, of course, be understood that 
we must have some object in the focus of the small tele- 
scope with which to compare the divisions of the scale. 
We use either a cross formed by the intersection of two 
spider's webs, or a single horizontal wire. 

" In case we wish to observe a zone of greater width 
than the extent of the scale (30), we have a number of 
pins, at distances of 30' apart, mounted in the arc of a 
circle whose radius is equal to the length of the long 
arm. We readily pass from one pin to another, by lift- 
ing one end of the connecting rod and attaching it to a 
different one. The divisions on the scale can easily be 
read, by estimation, to two tenths of a second of arc. 

"The time required to read the scale is much less 
than that employed in reading one microscope, since at 
the same transit of an equatorial star we can make from 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

ten to fifteen bisections and readings. As I have found 
one reading of the scale nearly equal to four microscopes, 
it follows that if we employ the same time in the obser- 
vation of an object with the Declinometer that we do 
when we use the Circle, our results in the former case 
will be superior to the latter in a large ratio. 

" The Zone observations with the Declinometer have 
been made mostly for the investigation of the source and 
amount of error due to this method. From a comparison 
of the observations with those made in the ordinary way, 
I find the probable error, on a single observation, falls 
within the limits of accuracy usually assigned to observa- 
tions made with the Meridian Circle. One great advan- 
tage lies in the fact that many bisections and readings 
can be made at the same transit, and in this way elimi- 
nating the ordinary errors of observation. You will 
understand the rapidity with which workman be done by 
this method, when I state that more than two hundred 
stars have been accurately observed in one hour; and 
were they equally distributed, twice that number could 
easily have been taken. 

" This instrument is one of the great inventions of our 
late and lamented director, Professor Mitchel; and is 
the only one in the world. 

" From observations made during the last two years, 
and a careful discussion of the results, I have arrived at 
the conviction that there is no other known method 



BIOGFwAPHICAL NOTICE. 33 

equal to it, for rapidity and accuracy, in the cata- 
loguing of stars" 

Professor Mitchel's remarkable mechanical skill, his 
quickness to perceive difficulties, and the readiness with 
which he devised and applied the remedies, are further 
admirably illustrated in his apparatus for recording time 
by means of the electro-magnetic telegraphs. These are 
now in use in the Cincinnati and Dudley Observatories. 
His was the first thorough solution of this important 
problem in instrumental astronomy. The following 
account of this apparatus is in Professor Mitchel's own 
words : 

"The problem of causing a clock to record its beats 
telegraphically, w T as nothing more than to contrive some 
method whereby the clock might be made (by the use of 
some portion of its own machinery) to take the place of the 
finger of the living, intelligent operator, and "-make" or 
" break" the electric circuit. The grand difficulty did 
not lie in causing the clock to play the part of an auto- 
maton in this precise particular, but it did lie in causing 
the clock to act automatically, and at the same time per- 
form perfectly its great function of a time-keeper. This 
became a matter of great difficulty and delicacy ; for to 
tax any portion of the clock machinery with a duty 
beyond the ordinary and contemplated demands of the 
maker, seemed at once to involve the machine in imper* 

feet and irregular action. After due reflection it was 

2* 



34 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

decided to apply to the pendulum for a minute amount 
of power, whereby the making or breaking the electric 
circuit might be accomplished with the greatest chance 
of escaping any injurious effect on the going of the clock. 
The principle which guided in this selection was, that we 
ought to go to the prime mover (which in this case was 
the clock weights, and which could not be employed), and, 
failing to reach the prime mover, we should select the 
nearest piece of mechanism to it, which in the clock is the 
pendulum. A second point early determined by experi- 
ment and reflection was this : that the making or break- 
ing of the circuit must be accomplished by the use of 
mercury, and not by a solid metallic connection. Vari- 
ous methods were tried, and soon abandoned as uncertain 
and irregular in their results ; and the following plan was 
adopted : 

" A small cross of delicate wire was mounted on a short 
axis of the same material, passing through the point of 
union of the four arms constituting the cross. This axis 
was then placed horizontal on a metallic support, in Y's, 
where it might vibrate, provided the top stem of the cross 
could be in some way attached to the pendulum of the 
clock, and the "cross" should thus rise and fall at its outer 
stem as the pendulum swings backward and forward. 
The metallic frame bearing the " cross" also bore a 
small glass tube bent at right angles. This was filled 
with mercury, and into one extremity one wire from 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 35 

the pole of the battery was made to dip; the other 
wire was made fast by a binding screw to the metallic 
stand bearing the " cross, " and thus every time the 
'•'cross" dipped into the mercury in the bent tube, the 
electricity passed through the metallic frame, up the ver- 
tical standards bearing the axis of the cross, along the 
axis to the stem, and down the stem into the mercury, 
and finally through the mercury to the other pole of 
the battery. Thus at every swing of the pendulum 
the circuit was made, and a suitable apparatus might, 
by the electro-magnet, record each alternate second of 
time. 

"The amount of power required of the pendulum to 
give motion to the delicate wire-cross was almost insensible, 
as the stems nearly counterpoised each other in every 
position. Here, however, there was great difficulty in 
procuring a fibre sufficiently minute and elastic to consti- 
tute the physical union between the top stem of the 
cross and the clock pendulum. Various materials were 
tried, among others a delicate human hair, the very finest 
that could be obtained, but this was too coarse and stiff. 
Its want of pliancy and elasticity gave to the minute 
"wire-cross" an irregular motion, and caused it to re- 
bound from the globule of mercury into which it should 
have plunged. After many fruitless efforts, an appeal 
was made to an artisan of wonderful dexterity ; the 
assistance of the spider was invoked ; his web, perfectly 



56 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

elastic and perfectly pliable, was furnished, and this ma- 
terial connection between the wire-cross and the clock 
pendulum proved to be exactly the thing required. In 
proof of this remark I need only state the fact that one 
single spider's web has fulfilled the delicate duty of 
moving the wire-cross, lifting it, and again permitting it 
to dip into the mercury every second of time for a period 
of more than three years ! How much longer it might 
have faithfully performed the same service I know not, 
as it then became necessary to break this admirable 
bond, to make some changes in the clock. Here it will 
be seen the same web was expanded and contracted 
each second during this whole period, and yet never, so 
far as could be observed, lost any portion of its elasticity. 
The clock was thus made to close the electric circuit in 
the most perfect manner ; and inasmuch as the resistance 
opposed to the pendulum by the "wire-cross" was a 
constant quantity and very minute, thus acting pre- 
cisely as does the resistance of the atmosphere, the 
clock, once regulated with the " cross" as a portion of 
its machinery, moved with its wonted steadiness and 
uniformity. Thus one grand point was gained. The 
clock was now ready to record its own beats automati- 
cally and with absolute certainty, without in any way 
affecting the regularity of its movement. It was early 
objected to the mercurial connection just described, that 
in a short time the surface of the mercury would become 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 37 

oxydized, and thus refuse to transmit the current of elec- 
tricity ; but experiment demonstrated that the explosion 
produced by the electric discharge at every clip into the 
mercury threw off the oxyd formed, and left the polished 
surface of the globule of mercury in a perfect state to 
receive the next passage of the electricity. 

"So far as known, all other methods are now abandoned, 
and the mercurial connection is the only one in use. 

" The Time-scale. — The clock being now prepared to 
record its beats, accurately and uniformly, the next im- 
portant step was to obtain, if possible, a uniformly 
moving time-scale, which should be applicable to the 
practical demands of the astronomer 

" In case the fillet of paper used in the Morse telegraph 
could have been made to flow at a uniform rate upon its 
surface, the clock could now record, its beats appearing 
as dots separated from each other by equal intervals. 
But it was soon seen that the paper could not be made to 
flow uniformly ; and even had this been possible, a single 
night's work would demand for its record such a vast 
amount of paper that this method was inapplicable to 
practice. After careful deliberation, the 'revolving 
disk' was selected as the best possible surface on which 
the record of time and observation could be made. The 
preference was given to the disk over the cylinder for 
the following reasons : The uniform revolution of the 
disk could be more readily reached. The record on the 



38 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

disk was always under the eye in every part of it at the 
same time, while, on the revolving cylinder, a portion of 
the work was always invisible. One disk could be sub- 
stituted for another with greater ease, and in a shorter 
time : and the measure of the fractions of seconds could 
be more rapidly and accurately performed on the disk 
than on the cylinder. 

'•After much thought and experiment it was decided 
to adopt 'a make circuit' and 'a dotted scale' rather 
than a 'break circuit' and a 'linear scale;' and I 
think it will be seen hereafter that in this selection the 
choice has been fully justified in practice. These points 
being settled, the mechanical problems now presented for 
solution were the following : First, To invent some machin- 
ery which could give to a disk of, say, twenty inches 
diameter, mounted on a vertical axis, a motion such that 
it should revolve uniformly once in each minute of time ; 
and, second, To connect with this disk the machinery 
which should enable the clock to record on the disk each 
alternate second of time, in the shape of a delicate round 
dot. Third, The apparatus which should enable the 
observer to record on the same disk the exact moment of 
the transit of a star across the meridian, or the occur- 
rence of any other phenomenon. 

"The first of these problems was by far the most diffi- 
cult, and, indeed, its perfect solution remains yet to be 
accomplished, though, for any practical astronomical 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 39 

purpose, the problem has been solved in more than 
one way. 

ci The plan adopted in the Cincinnati Observatory may 
be described as follows : The clock-work machinery em- 
ployed to give to the great equatorial telescope a uniform 
motion equal to that of the earth's rotation, on its axis, 
offered to me the first obvious approximate solution of 
the problem under consideration. This machinery was 
accordingly applied to the motion of the disk, or rather 
to regulate the motion of revolution, this motion being 
produced by a descending weight, after the fashion of 
an ordinary clock. It was soon discovered that the 
' Prauenhofer clock,' as this machine is called, was not 
competent to produce a motion of such uniformity as was 
now required. Several modifications were made with a 
positive gain ; but after long study it was finally dis- 
covered that when the machinery was brought into per- 
fect adjustment, the dynamical equilibrium obtained was 
an equilibrium of instability; that is, if from a motion 
such as produced a revolution in one exact minute, it 
began to lose, this loss or decrement in velocity went on 
increasing, or if it commenced to gain, the increment 
went on increasing at each revolution of the disk. Now' 
all these delicate changes could be watched with the most 
perfect certainty ; as, in case the disk revolved uniformly 
once a minute, then the seconds' dots would fall in such 
a manner (as we shall see directly) that the dots of the 



40 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

same recorded seconds would radiate from the center of 
the disk in a straight line. Any deviation from this line 
would be marked with the utmost delicacy down to the 
thousandth of a second. By long and careful study, it 
was at length discovered, that to make any change in the 
velocity of the disk, to increase or decrease quickly its 
motion, in short, to restore the dynamical equilibrium, 
the winding key of the ' Frauenhofer clock' was the 
point of the machinery where the extra helping force 
should be applied ; and it was found that a person of 
ordinary intelligence, stationed at the disk, and with 
his fingers on this key, could, whenever he noticed a 
slight deviation from uniformity, at once, by slight assist- 
ance, restore the equilibrium, when the machine would 
perhaps continue its performance perfectly for several 
minutes, when again some slight acceleration or retarda- 
tion might be required from the sentinel posted as an 
auxiliary. 

" The mechanical problem now demanding solution was 
very clearly announced. It was this : Required to con- 
struct an automaton which should take the place of the 
intelligent sentinel, watch the going of the disk, and in- 
stantly correct any acceleration or retardation. This, in 
fact, is the great problem in all efforts to secure uniform 
motion of rotation. This problem was resolved theoreti- 
cally, in many ways, several of which methods were exe- 
cuted mechanically without success, as it was found that 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 41 

the machine stationed as a sentinel to regulate the going 
of the disk was too weak, and was itself carried off by 
its too powerful antagonist. The following method 
was, however, in the end, entirely successful. Upon the 
axis of the winding key, already mentioned, a toothed 
wheel was attached, the gearing being so adjusted that 
one revolution of this wheel should produce a whole 
number of revolutions of the disk. The circumference 
of this wheel was cut into a certain number of notches, 
so that, as it revolved, one of these notches would reach 
the highest point once in two seconds of time. By 
means of an electro-magnet a small cylinder or roller, 
at the extremity of a lever arm, was made to fall into the 
highest notch of the toothed wheel at the end of every 
two seconds. In case the disk was revolving exactly once 
a minute, the roller, driven by the sidereal clock, by means 
of an electro-magnet, fell to the bottom of the notch, and 
performed no service whatever; but, in case the disk 
began to slacken its velocity, then the roller fell on the 
retreating inclined face of the notch, and thus urged for- 
ward by a minute amount the laggard disk, while, on the 
contrary, should the variation from a uniform velocity 
present itself in an acceleration, then the roller struck on 
the advancing face of the notch, and thus tended slowly 
to restore the equilibrium. Let it be remembered that 
this delicate regulator has but a minute amount of service 
to perform. It is ever on guard, and detecting, as it 



42 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

does instantly, any disposition to change, at once applies 
its restoring power, and thus preserves an exceedingly 
near approach to exact uniformity of revolution. This 
regulator operates through all the wheel-work, and thus 
accomplishes a restoration by minute increments or de- 
crements spread over many minutes cf time. 

" With a uniformly revolving disk, stationary in posi- 
tion, we should accomplish exactly, and very perfectly, 
the record of one minute of time, presenting on the re- 
cording surface thirty dots at equal angular intervals on 
the circumference of a circle. To receive the time dots 
of the next minute on a circle of larger diameter, re- 
quired either that the recording pen should change posi- 
tion, or that at the end of each revolution the disk itself 
should move away from the pen by a small amount. We 
chose to remove the disk. To accomplish accurately the 
change of position of the disk, at the end of each revolu- 
tion, the entire machine was mounted on wheels on a 
small railway track, and by a very delicate mechanical 
arrangement accomplished its own change of position 
between the fifty-ninth and sixtieth second of every 
minute." 

The foregoing explanations are given as a mere illus- 
tration of Professor Mitchel's mechanical ingenuity. To 
the great world he is better known by other and more 
striking characteristics. 

As a lecturer Professor Mitchel had a remarkable 



BIOGKAPHICAL NOTICE. 



43 



gift : his fervid oratory was natural ; it was the truest 
exemplification of the trite but striking idea of the poet, 

' ; Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." 

He could make a dry problem in mathematical astronomy 
so pleasing, by its clear and eloquent presentation, as to 
enchain a popular assembly and extort their applause 
both for problem and lecturer. His language, purely 
extemporaneous, was beautiful ; his figures and illustra- 
tions strikingly well chosen ; and his voice and manner 
powerful and overmastering. Sometimes his fervor 
seemed like a Delphian inspiration ; and there are few 
who will forget the magnificent effects produced by his 
lectures on the Astronomy of the Bible, which are found 
in this volume. Those who heard him deliver them will 
easily recall the almost inspired speaker, and hear again 
in memory, the lectures as they read them. 

As a true and whole-hearted 'patriot he had no supe- 
rior. Influenced by this spirit, he tore himself from 
home ties, alas ! not capable of bearing the rude parting, — 
his departure cost him his cherished wife ; and thus he 
gave himself up to his country. All his energies, all his 
talents, his varied education, his fame, his brilliant 
future ; whatever there was of power or influence in him 
or his name, was hers, devoted to her with a single eye 
and a single purpose. And he died for her, as truly, as 
devotedly,— shall we not say as gloriously, — as though 



44 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

he had fallen leading a forlorn hope to turn disaster into 
victory ? 

But as a soldier his -whole-hearted patriotism was of 
great value. Bred at West Point, and having engrafted 
upon that thorough elementary education the knowledge 
of men, of life, of practical science and industrial arts, 
he was the very beau-ideal of a general. Full of 
resources, he made bridges of cotton-bales and fence- 
rails, and was the first man across to test their preca- 
rious structure. Restlessly energetic, his mind passed 
like lightning over every part of a plan or a field ; his 
quick glance caught the capabilities of a position ; his 
experience provided whatever was needed; his surplus 
vitality, overflowing his own person, swept out among the 
soldiers and put the whole mass in motion. His great 
personal bravery was a constant example and incentive 
to every man under his command. Wherever he ap- 
peared, there was work to do : expeditions, rapid move- 
ments, concerted combinations, forced marches. With- 
out making too sweeping a remark, we may consider 
General Mitchel as among the very best of our com- 
manders ; and, had he lived, he would have risen to a 
position in public esteem and confidence second to none 
in the land. 

As a devout Christian, — not presented now to the 
world in the mere statement of a charitable opinion, 
which gives " a good conscience" to every public man who 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 45 

dies, — but as a consistent, conscientious, devout Christian 
man, General Mitchel is best known to his home and his 
intimate friends. Admiring, as they do, his brilliant 
qualities; his learning, his genius, his military fame, 
they recur with far more comfort to the fact of his holy 
and fervent life, his daily communing with his God, his 
practical piety, his certain and holy hope of eternal life 
through the blood of Christ. 

"No king stood by his dying bed beseeching him — 

If thou think'st on Heaven's bliss, 

Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope." 

Prompted by the unutterable thoughts which crowded 
upon him, he gave, unbidden, such a happy signal, liter- 
ally holding up his hand, and pointing to that world 
beyond the skies, which was then lifting " its everlasting 
portals high" to greet him with an immortal radiance, such 
as even his enthusiastic astronomy had never conceived. 
His last words, brokenly uttered, were taken down by his 
aid-de-camp, and they add another to the ever-increasing 
and enduring testimonies, that, when the good man dies, 
God alone is great, and Heaven alone is real existence. 

General Mitchel was, as might be expected, the recip- 
ient of many honors, due to his own merits. He had 
filled many offices and posts. A graduate of West Point, 
he was a lieutenant of artillery, a lawyer, a railway 
engineer, an astronomer ; the founder of one observatory, 



46 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 

the director of two ; a Doctor of Laws from more than 
one institution; a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical 
Society, and of several other foreign societies ; a Major- 
General of Volunteers. In 1841, he was a member of 
the Boxrd of Visitors at the Military Academy. In 
1847 and 1848 he was Adjutant-General of the State of 
Ohio. He was elected a member of the American Philo- 
sophical Society in 1853. 

H. C. 

University of Pennsylvania, 
Philadelphia, March, 1863. 



LECTURE I. 

ASTRONOMICAL. EVIDENCES OF THE REING OF A GOD. 



LECTURE I. 

ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF THE BEESO OF GOD. 

The topics upon the discussion of which I am 
about to venture, are far different from those 
which have hitherto engaged our attention. We 
are no longer to follow the career of the human 
mind, in its efforts to trace the laws of the phys- 
ical universe. We stand with the philosopher 
and astronomer on the very apex of that stu- 
pendous pyramid, which human genius has reared 
by the protracted labor of six thousand years. 
We are lifted far above the clouds of earth. An 
interminable vista, broad as the universe, illimit- 
able as space, teeming with myriads of flaming 
orbs, rises up to meet our vision. We have at- 
tained to a knowledge of the potent laws which 
extend their dominion over these countless 
millions. We are permitted to examine the 

" Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers," 

which fill the heavens. Our view sweeps from 

3 



50 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

the humble satellite which acknowledges and 
obeys the superior power of the earth, through 
systems, and schemes, and universes, whose vast- 
ness no stretch of thought can comprehend, 
whose numbers no arithmetic of earth can count. 
We no longer seek to weigh these ponderous orbs, 
we seek not to trace their wanderings, we attempt 
not to compute their reciprocal influences or to 
predict their cycles of configuration or their 
mighty periods of revolution. We shall attempt 
to rise far beyond and above all these inquiries, 
and venture on the far more difficult task of 
reasoning our way through these wonderful dis- 
plays of wisdom and power, to the ultimate 
source of all wisdom and power. 

We shall venture to inquire whence has sprung 
the Physical Universe ? what hand has launched 
these flaming orbs in space ? Whose eye omnis- 
cient has traced out their untrodden paths ? what 
hand omnipotent upholds the stupendous fabric 
of Nature ? 

These are themes of superlative grandeur. 
No mind can approach their contemplation with- 
out an expansion of thought, an uplifting of 



THE BEING OF GOD, 



51 



the powers of the soul, a sensation resembling 
that which swept across the soul of our great 
ancestor, when it was whispered, " Ye shall be 
as gods ;" and there comes a withering sense 
of our own weakness, a consciousness of our 
utter inability to scale these lofty heights, or 
penetrate the deep profound which stretches out 
before us. If called upon to discuss these 
themes in the presence of superior beings, the 
Hierarchs of Heaven, resplendent with exalted 
wisdom, it would be utter folly to unseal the lip, 
or move the tongue to the utterance of one soli- 
tary thought. 

But I address not myself to angelic intelli- 
gences, but to man, humble, trusting, inquiring, 
teachable man, conscious of his own weakness, 
and ever ready to receive with feelings of chari- 
table consideration, the humble efforts of those, 
who, like himself, are struggling to discover truth. 

I have ventured then to propound for examina- 
tion the following train of investigation : — Does 
the Physical Universe proclaim the Being of 
a God? Should this inquiry be affirmatively 
answered, we propose to inquire, If the God thus 



52 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

revealed, is the same august and eternal being 
portrayed in our sacred books. I shall then 
consider these sacred books in their relation to 
the determinate truths of science, to compare 
their revelations of the cosmogony of the uni- 
verse with the revelations of modern science, to 
examine critically the astronomical illustrations, 
allusions, and miracles of the historians, poets, 
and prophets of the sacred volume, and finally 
to compare the Hebrew chronology with that of 
the primitive nations of the earth. Such is the 
train of investigation to which I would lead your 
thoughts, humbly premising in the outset, that I 
have most earnestly desired, that this task might 
devolve on some one far abler than myself to 
effect its almost impossible execution. 

If we examine the globe we inhabit with any 
degree of attention, we perceive its mighty sur- 
face, diversified with mountain and plain, with 
ocean and forest, and teeming with animal and 
vegetable life. Its exterior surrounded with an 
atmospheric envelope of subtle character, in 
which and by which all life is sustained, and 



THE BEL\G OF GOD. 53 

without which universal death would reign upon 
the entire surface of the earth. 

We find our globe accompanied in its flight 
through space by another of smaller dimensions, 
and that each is related to the other by bonds 
which are never severed. These associated worlds 
are in their turn linked to a vast central orb, from 
which they derive their light, and heat, and life. 
Conjoined with these, and linked to the same 
grand center, we behold a great multitude of 
orbs, vast in their proportions, diverse in form, 
differing in mass, all nowever obedient to one all- 
pervading law, and all moving, with the most 
astonishing harmony, within the regions of space 
prescribed by this all-prevalent law. Lifting our 
eyes above this mighty scheme of revolving 
worlds, we behold the starry Heavens. Each 
glittering point is doubtless but a repetition of 
the system with which we are specifically allied. 
These by aggregations again form grander 
schemes, clusterings of suns and systems, peop- 
ling the boundless regions of space, ranging in 
wonderful and overwhelming prospective, as far 
as human vision aided by the most powerful 



5\ A.STBOXOKI0AL EVIDENCES OF 

optic aid can penetrate the deep domain of ether. 
Throughout this boundless universe we per- 
ceive that the most perfect harmony prevails — 
each one of the countless myriads of worlds, 
moving with swift velocity in its appointed cir- 
cuit, swaying and being swayed, but ever keep- 
ing its appointed orbit, and performing with strict 
precision its admirable revolution. There is no 
confusion, no jarring of contending worlds, no 
collisions of flying orbs to disturb the harmony 
of Heaven. 

Such is the celestial mechanism, admirable in 
its perfection, boundless in its dimensions, over- 
whelming in its diversity, countless in its myriads 
of parts, and yet one mighty unit, for whose 
structure and being we are called upon to account. 

The human mind has thus far framed but three 
hypotheses, to resolve the enigma of this stupen- 
dous universe : — 

1. It has been conceived that the universe is 
eternal, without beginning and without end ; 
passing through cycles of change, but returning 
into itself, like the ceaseless revolutions of the 
planetary orbs. 



THE BEING OF GOD. 55 

2. A second hypothesis demands the eternity 
of matter, and attributes the laws of the universe 
and its existent organization to blind fate or 
chance, resting its perpetuity on the same un- 
certain foundation. 

3. A third hypothesis ascribes the existent 
universe to the creation of an Eternal Mind, 
omnipotent, omniscient, filling with his presence, 
the universe, and upholding all things at every 
instant by his Almighty will. 

These three hypotheses now demand our care- 
ful philosophic and unprejudiced examination. 
Let no one be startled at the boldness of this 
discussion. Truth is mighty and must prevail. 

We commence then with the first hypothesis. 
It is asserted by some that the universe is eter- 
nal, that the same sun which now vivifies the 
earth has ever poured upon it its flood of light, 
that the same moon which now sways the ocean 
tide, has ever circled round the earth, that the 
same heavens which now blaze upon the sight, 
have ever shone with the same effulgence, and 
shall ever shine throughout the ceaseless ages of 
eternity. That the generations of earth perish, 



56 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

and are reproduced, and have been ever perishing 
and being reproduced from all eternity. In the 
examination of this hypothesis/ there comes to 
us but little light from the surrounding orbs of 
the universe. It would be difficult to prove that 
these silent and mysterious worlds, now T sweep- 
ing through the trackless regions of space, ever 
did commence their wonderful career. We are 
rather restricted to an examination of that planet 
which we inhabit, and our reasoning with refer- 
ence to its physical being and constitution, may 
by analogy be safely transferred to more distant 
worlds. If the hypothesis in question be true, 
it must account for every phenomenon of nature. 
If it assert that the world is eternal, then it must 
in like manner assert, that all upon its surface 
is eternal in its series, perishing indeed, but being 
reproduced in an endless series. Were it then 
possible to penetrate the inmost recesses of the 
earth, and to read the history of the ages which 
are past, in case any traces remain of what 
once was, we might anticipate finding the me- 
morials of generations sweeping backward in- 
definitely into the womb of time. If the earth 



THE BEING OF GOD. 57 

be eternal, then is its physical constitution eter- 
nal, its animal and vegetable life eternal in series, 
and man in his generations, must in like manner 
be pronounced eternal. In the decision of 
these fundamental questions, we are not left to 
mere conjecture. It may be asserted that the 
planets are eternal, and reason may fail to dis- 
prove the bold assertion, but science has read, 
with keen and penetrating glance, the past his- 
tory of the revolutions of the surface of our 
globe. Go to the naturalist and the geologist, 
and they will unfold to you the rocky leaves of 
the earth's primeval history. They will carry 
you backward by slow degrees, through a vast 
series of vegetable and animal existence, until a 
point is reached, in this grand investigation, 
where science plants her foot on the primitive 
rock and declares, that here is an existence an- 
terior to every form of animal or vegetable life. 
This planet indeed then existed, but on its sur- 
face surged a boundless, interminable ocean, 
without shore, without life. Here, then, we 
reach a most wonderful era. After the deposi- 
tion of these primitive rocks, came a series of 

3* 



ffi ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

phenomena, more startling and stupendous than 
even the generation of the orbs of Heaven. Life, 
that mystery of mysteries, bursts upon the 
universe. It, we know, does not sweep down 
upon us from out the mists which shroud in 
gloom the eternity of the past. Life is the 
offspring of time. In the fullness of time, the 
tender plant, the drooping flower, a teeming 
vegetation, burst upon the world. These are 
not eternal; backward we trace their sources 
from age to age remote, until we stand at a point 
anterior to all such existence, and pronounce 
unhesitatingly, here is the beginning. If this 
be true of vegetable life, it is more emphatically 
true of animal existence. This too in all its 
classes, orders, species, and generations is the 
offspring of time. Deeply bound in the solid 
rocks of earth, we trace its existence from age 
to age, until the series is exhausted and we again 
pronounce, here is the beginning; at this point 
sentient being first inhaled the breath of life ; at 
this point the eye first beheld the beauties of 
primeval nature, and the appetite first sought to 
satisfy its cravings from the luxuriant bosom of 



THE BEING OF GOD. 59 

the mother of all life. Once more we pronounce 
positively, that man is the offspring of time. 
Individually ephemeral, even in his generations 
he can not assert the smallest claim to an eter- 
nity past. 

A few thousand years of his history and of 
that of the race is on record. During this minute 
portion of time, we are able to trace with positive 
distinctness, the rapid and unequivocal advances 
of the race in power, in knowledge, in wisdom. 
During this brief period, man's empire over 
nature and nature's exhaustless powers and re- 
sources, has been advancing with the most rapid 
strides. If, then, we are to judge from these 
facts, of the origin of our race, if the conver- 
gence of two lines determines with certainty 
their point of intersection, we are forced to admit 
either that the human race is of comparatively 
recent origin, or that it is only within the last 
few thousand years that we have attained to the 
power of advancing in wisdom, and in power. 

No, matter, however, where or in what point 
we place the beginning of our race, this begin- 
ning falls in time, and posterior to every other 



60 ASTRONOMICAL & V I D E XCKS O F 

form of life which marks the surface of our 
globe. 

But all life is linked indissolubly with the 
physical constitution of the earth. The atmos- 
phere is as much a portion of the planet, as the 
solid parts. This atmosphere is the vital fluid 
on which all animated nature depends. Sweep 
this covering from the earth, and universal death 
sways his empire over all things. 

Again, life depends on organic condition, and 
the productions of earth give life to the myriads 
which inhabit her surface. ' Strike these laws of 
vivified production from existence, and all ani- 
mated nature dies. But life is linked, in like 
manner, to the sun. Shut out his beams, the 
source of all heat and motion, and life soon lan- 
guishes ; decay, darkness, and death are again 
triumphant. 

Thus it will be seen that even in the order of 
nature, as exhibited in one single dependent 
world, it is utterly impossible to assert an eter- 
nity of being, or an endless and interminable 
succession of events. Man is not eternal, ani- 
mal life is not eternal, vegetable existence is not 



THE BEING OF GOD. 61 

eternal. These all had a beginning, and we are 
driven from our first hypothesis, and forced to 
admit that it does not account for the existent 
phenomena of the Physical Universe. 

We now reach the consideration of the second 
hypothesis. This asserts that the matter of the 
Physical Universe is eternal, and that the exis- 
tent organization, in all its interminable ramifica- 
tions, of world, and sun, and system, in all its 
varieties of life, and being, and organic existence, 
is attributable to fate or chance. It is, perhaps, 
impossible to demonstrate, or to disprove directly, 
the eternity of matter. The mind does seem- 
ingly comprehend the idea of the eternity of 
space, and were matter unorganized it might be 
quite possible to conceive of the eternity of 
matter. We shall, therefore, examine in the out- 
set, the last assertion of this hypothesis; that 
the existent order of universe being is the off- 
spring of chance, or accident. 

We have already asserted that the organiza- 
tion of the universe is exceedingly complex, 
although subjected to the action of one universal 
law. No one body in space is isolated or inde- 



62 ASTEOKOMICAL ETIDE5CK 



or 



prudent. Each and everyone is home. 1 :: h 
others, and a reciprocal influence is exerted 
through the boundless regions of space. Even 
I b e s ubordinate organizations are o mp lex. Take 
for examp.e me system of planers and satellites 
dependent on our sun. Here is a celestial me ch an- 
isna of astonishing complexity, yet .1 : . h_.no' m 
order and beauty. Examine for a moment the 
muluttule :: ::uoo::ln_ :.■::: ierts. required to 
produce one such system, and to hold it steady 
in all the innumerable configurations of its re- 
volving orbs. "We call on accident or chance to 
account for the selection of the law of univ 
gravitation, of the laws of motion, of the figures 
of the planets, of the dim : t: 

or os f their orbits, of their relative 
positions, of their relative masses, of their rela- 
tive distances. We call on chance to adapt the 
m.ys: : stitution of our globe, to the susten- 

tatlcm of animal and vegetable life. We are 
■■•■■live.: t:> lemand of chance, the structure of 
the human frame, and all its multiplied adapta- 
tions to the circumstances by which it is sur- 
rounded. But this is all demanded in one single 



THE BEING OF GOD. 63 

system. But we rise still higher to the contem- 
plation of double and multiple suns, and } T et 
higher to the stable organization of mighty clus- 
ters of stars, all brought into being by chance, 
and accidentally arranged for an ever-during per- 
petuity. If those who advocate the doctrine of 
chance are governed by its laws, the improba- 
bility accumulates on their hands, as we rise 
higher and higher, until it amounts almost if not 
quite, to an infinite improbability, against this 
hypothesis of accident. 

In case we apply this doctrine of chance to 
the investigation of one of the simplest prob- 
lems which it is required to resolve, we shall be- 
come convinced of its utter incapacity to account 
for the complicated phenomena of nature. Let 
us admit, for the sake of the argument, that by 
chance the orbs of heaven were formed, by 
chance they assumed their present figure, by 
chance they came to attract each other, accord- 
ing to the inverse square of their distances, by 
chance the subordinate planets are hurled into 
space, by chance these planets select their 
present beautiful orbits, by chance these orbits 



64 ASTRONOMICAL j3 VID Etf OES OF 

are so located as to exclude the possibility of 
interference, by chance, in short, all the subor- 
dinate organizations are completed around the 
innumerable suns, which now, by chance, fill the 
capacious domains of space. All this is admitted, 
and now we demand of this same chance, to 
account for the present distribution of these stars 
of heaven. Are the aggregations and configura- 
tions now existent the result of accident, or does 
mathematical demonstration show them to be 
grouped by some power rising superior to acci- 
dent, and swaying an influence even beyond the 
empire of chance ? 

Even in this narrow, contracted domain of 
accident, the profoundest investigations have 
banished this imaginary monster being from his 
empire, and the demonstration is clear and posi- 
tive, that even in comparatively simple aggrega- 
tions of stars, these groupings can not be the 
effect of accident, but must be the result of 
some superior overruling law or power. The 
universe is not, then, an accidental arrangement 
of matter. Reason forbids the adoption of such 
an hypothesis in the face of millions of chances 



THE BEING OF GOD. 65 

to one against the possibility of such an organi- 
zation even in one of its humblest departments. 
There seems, therefore, but one remaining hy- 
pothesis for examination. If the mind can not 
reach to certainty, can not find a resting-place 
in the belief of an eternal, an omniscient Cre- 
ator, it is vain to hope that there ever can be 
found a solid resting-place for the doubts which 
toss the human mind to and fro on a stormy 
sea of speculation. 

To this last hypothesis, then, we gladly invite 
your attention — the most sublime, the most com- 
prehensive, the most dignified and far-reaching 
of the three. By it we are lifted out of the 
domain of darkness, from the dominion of fatal- 
ity, and, in case it can be demonstrated, our feet 
are set upon an eternal rock. What, then, does 
this third hypothesis affirm ? It affirms that the 
existent universe, in all its diversified and mul- 
titudinous parts, is an effect dependent upon, 
and deriving its being from, a great first cause. 
That this cause is eternal, pre existent, sentient, 
and omnipotent, competent to call into being the 
universe of matter, to endow this created matter 



G6 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

with certain qualities and properties, to select 
with wisdom from among an infinity of laws 
those alone adequate to the government of a 
universe, with power to enforce eternally the 
administration of these laws over the organisms 
either derived from the operation of these laws, 
or dependent for existence upon their pervad- 
ing influence. In short, this hypothesis asserts 
that this primeval cause is an infinite and eternal 
order-loving, ever-active God. Such, then, is 
the amazing proposition we are called upon to 
discuss ; and may that Power, to the recognition 
of whose existence our feeble reasonings have 
led us, give to us the strength to lift your minds, 
in like manner, upward through Nature to Na- 
ture's God ! 

Let us, then, if it be possible, permit our 
imaginations to wander backward through the 
silent ages of the past, until we reach an epoch 
so remote that we stand in the midst of unten- 
anted space. The wide universe is nothing but 
unbounded, limitless vacuity. There is room 
for a universe, but as yet no particle of the 
myriads which are to people space have any ex- 



THE BEING OF GOD, 67 

istence. And now conceive, if you can, of the 
generation of the first particle of matter ; there 
it is in the midst of darkness unfathomable, sur- 
rounded by boundless vacuity. Left to itself 
what is to become of this solitary particle ? 
Shall it remain forever fixed, immoveable in the 
same absolute point of space ? Shall it move 
when there is no motion ? Shall it sink when 
there is neither height nor depth? Whither 
shall it go? Or left to itself, what mind can 
conceive the destiny of this primeval atom of 
infinity ? Here it would seem that in the very 
outset, in the very birth of matter, mind is im- 
periously demanded to endue matter with the 
attributes of existence. Look at this inert, life- 
less, senseless, motionless particle of matter; sur- 
round it by myriads on myriads as dull and in- 
sensate as itself, and how utterly inconsistent is 
it, with all the attributes of reason, to conceive 
that such a mass can of itself give to itself quali- 
ties and properties ; select for itself laws of 
organization and being ; construct itself into com- 
plex schemes, and flying worlds, and wondrous 
systems ; fill these worlds with life, and light, 



68 A STB GNOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

and beauty; and above all, people them with 
intelligences, capable of penetrating the profound 
mysteries of the universe, and of scanning the 
most complex organisms which fill the regions 
of space. We are forced away from such an 
absurdity : against it reason rebels. Matter, then, 
has no power. In vain do we seek within it for 
the secret of its existence. To the inquiry, 
Whence come its attributes ? it yields no re- 
sponse, because it has no response to yield. 
But grant, if you please, its chaotic existence — 
scatter it profusely, as far as thought can pene- 
trate the deep profounds — leave it without the 
sustaining hand of Omni fie power, — and no 
thought can fathom the future of a universe thus 
filled. If there be powers of segregation and 
aggregation among the existent particles (an 
impossible supposition), then why may not these 
particles, fitted for the organization of man, fly- 
ing from the four quarters of the universe, seek 
each other, build up the solid bones, knit the 
tough muscle, inflate with life's purple current 
the vein and artery, mould Vito symmetry,* the 
wondrous form, and fashior man in the very 



THE BEING OF GOD. 69 

womb of chaos wild, in the midst of darkness 
profound, surrounded by forms wilder than 
imagination has ever pictured ? The mind re- 
volts from such a supposition, and exclaims, 
Strike from existence this insensate matter, 
these germs of Being, or place them under the 
controlling power of wisdom supreme. 

In vain, then, do we seek any organization, 
however defective, without a God. We wander 
in darkness infinite ; not a beam of light illu- 
mines the gloom of eternal night. The mind 
labors and struggles to rise, but plumes its wing 
in vain, and beats vacuity as it struggles down- 
ward to a still darker deep. These, then, are 
some of the negative evidences of the Being of 
God. 

Let us now examine more closely the existent 
celestial mechanism, and from it learn its posi- 
tive teachings on this most important subject. 
If supreme intelligence have superintended the 
organization of the universe, then will the evi- 
dences of this august power be stamped on every 
part and portion of the celestial organisms. Even 
here on earth, within the range of the dominion 



70 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

governed by the intelligence of the human mind, 
how infallibly do we pass from the effect to the 
cause, from the thing fashioned to the framer, 
from the design to the higher intelligence which 
planned and executed the design. Who has 
ever stood within the portals of the lofty St. 
Peter's, that majestic temple of the living God, 
and gazed upon its vast proportions, its mighty 
columns, its interminable arches, its viewless 
dome, rising grand, majestic, and overwhelming; 
who I say has gazed upon those wonders of art, 
without reverting to the god-like mind that con- 
ceived this stupendous fabric, and fashioned its 
vast proportions in beauty and in strength? 
Mind is there radiant in every form, pervading 
every curve of beauty, beaming from every shape 
of strength and perpetuity. If in this earthly 
structure, this beautiful atom on the broad bosom 
of our mother earth, we discern that which 
bespeaks the immortality of mind, what doth the 
solid earth itself declare, — ^radiant with power and 
beauty, teeming with life, and not life's images, ver- 
dant with beauty, diversified with every variety of 
grandeur, rolling ever on its firm axle, irradiated 



THE BEING OF GOD. 71 

with a flood of splendor and alternately canopied 
with jeweled glories, sweeping onward freighted 
with its nine hundred millions of intelligent 
beings, its myriads of sentient creatures, circling 
for ever in its appointed path. Spring-time and 
harvest, summer and winter do never fail. There 
is bread for the eater, and seed for the sower. 
Poise yourself in empty space and behold this 
revolving world, with its rocks and mountains, 
its forests and oceans, its life and energy sweep- 
ing by you, swiftly revolving, and swiftly flying, 
growing, swelling, expanding, as it approaches, 
till as it flashes by you, the imagination is over- 
whelmed with the amazing grandeur! 

Is there here no evidence of mind ? whose 
hand fashioned this stupendous globe, and filled 
its mighty cavities with the heaving deep? who 
painted with glowing tints its limitless expanse; 
warmed, and vivified, and fructified its teeming 
bosom; filled its surface with life and energy, 
with hope, and love, and happiness ; launched it 
flaming through the abyss of space, firm fixed in 
its appointed course as though linked by chains 
of adamant, never, never to be .moxed ? The 



72 ASTKONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

swelling mind answers,, " It is God, it is God 
alone !" 

But this is mere external examination. Let 
us penetrate still deeper into the arcana of this 
wonderful exhibition, and mark the admirable 
adaptation of all its parts. Living, sentient 
intelligence, seems to be the grand aim of the 
mighty architect ■;— the sustentation of man, the 
monarch of creation. For him the earth teems 
with fruit and flower, with the rich harvest and 
the golden grain. For him the fresh fountains 
leap from the solid rock, and the cattle feed on 
a thousand hills. To lull him to repose the solid 
earth turns away from the too brilliant sun, and 
the gentle stars light the nocturnal sky. To wake 
him to vigor, the morning dawns and the light 
of day, tempered by a provision of admirable 
efficiency, swells gently into brighter and still 
brighter effulgence, until the full-orbed sun bursts 
in splendor upon the world. 

How and by what wonderful contrivance are 
all these results accomplished ? The life of man 
is dependent on the purity of the wonderful en- 
velope which surrounds the earth. Sweep away 



THE BEING OF GOD. 73 

this gauzy atmosphere and he dies, and with him 
all life becomes extinct. Even permit this at- 
mosphere to stagnate, and pestilence fills the 
earth. But how shall this gaseous ocean be 
heaved from its mighty depths ? who shall fan the 
breeze, or stir the wind, or rouse the sweeping 
tornado? Look at yonder distant fiery globe, 
ninety-five millions of miles removed from our 
earth, and who would suppose that from this 
distant orb, comes the mysterious power by 
which this mighty aerial ocean, the breath of 
life to man, to animal, and to vegetable, is stirred 
to its profoundest depths, and its purification 
wrought out by laws and influences of the most 
intricate character. 

And yet the sun is " the prince of the power 
of the air." By his heat operating through the 
laws of expansion and contraction, mobility 
becomes the attribute of every atmospheric par- 
ticle — change, ; circulation, ceaseless motion, 
sometimes revealing itself in the gentle zephyr 
that plays with the drooping floweret, and anon 
mightily, in the fierce tempest which wrestles 
with the gnarled oak. 



74 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

Not only is the remote but powerful sun the 
" prince of the power of the air/' but from his 
bosom emanates that yet more mysterious influ- 
ence which heaves up from the broad ocean those 
vast vaporous masses, which, swiftly borne on the 
chariot of the bird, sweep over the surface of 
the earth, distilling in gentle dews, or bursting 
forth in the fierce deluge. 

Here, then, are most astonishing adaptations 
— the sun, the earth, the ocean, the atmosphere, 
the laws of heat, of motion, of expansion, of 
evaporation, of condensation — all combining to 
work out the most beneficent influences for man, 
the sole recipient of the blessings which flow 
from the harmonious on-going of this complex, 
but never-failing mechanism. Wonderful con- 
trivance ! by whose power and influence the 
earth teems with the rich harvest and the 
ripened corn invites the sickle of the reaper. 
To perfect all this astonishing development, an 
adequate supply of moisture is demanded, an 
adequate supply of light is demanded, an ade- 
quate supply of heat is demanded ; certain 
qualities of soil are demanded, and above all, the 



THE BEING OF GOD. 75 

fecundity of nature is demanded. Whence do 
all these come ? Whence these admirable means 
to an end ? The power of human genius may 
collect together the material from the four quar- 
ters of the earth, and compound a fruitful soil, 
the same genius may supply the required irriga- 
tion, but what stretch of human power, can 
supply the needed heat, or bid the dead seed 
burst into life ? 

A further examination shows the nicest and 
most astonishing adjustments. In case the 
annual supply of heat were increased or dimin- 
ished by even a single degree, the most disas- 
trous consequences would follow. An increase 
or decrease of thrice this quantity would destroy 
every form of life, which now fills the earth. 
That this annual supply may be constant, look at 
the wonderful complexity of contrivance. The 
great center, the mighty reservoir of light and 
heat, is made exhaustless ; pouring for ever 
from its bosom a flood of light and heat, borne 
in the most inscrutable manner athwart the 
regions of space, with a velocity overwhelming. 
Thousands of years has the light blazed, and 



76 ASTKONOMfOAL EVIDENCES OF 

splendor undimmed ; and the heat flashed 
with power undiminished. The source, then, 
is constant, though ever exhausting. But this 
is not the only requisite. The earth, the recipi- 
ent of these "beams of heat and light, must turn 
its various faces to the source of life — and here 
another wonder breaks upon us. This solid 
globe, with a diameter of 8000 miles, with un- 
changed continuity of motion, is ever turning on 
its well-poised axle. The conditions of perfec- 
tion require an absolute uniformity in the motion 
of rotation. Any thing short of this would 
derange the economy of nature, and mar the 
perfection of the plan. Amid the conflicting 
causes tending to destroy or derange the uni- 
formity of rotation, an admirable equilibrium is 
evolved, and so long as time shall endure, day 
and night shall not fail in their season. In this 
particular the earth is freed from the effects of 
all external power, subjected alone to the action 
of that primitive impulse which set it spinning 
on its never changing axle. 

While uniformity of rotation is an essential 
clement ; the equal and perfect distribution of 



THE BEING OP GOD. 77 

light and heat, it is not the only one : a still 
more complex and difficult guarantee is required. 
The earth, in its orbitual movement around the 
sun, must cling to the primitive figure of its 
annual orbit. Slight changes are indeed admissi- 
ble, but the limits are narrow, and the wonder 
is how may change exist at all without derange- 
ment fatal to the complex scheme. Here we 
find a multitude of disturbing forces. The moon, 
powerful by her proximity, sways the solid earth : 
the interior planets, Mercury and Venus, in like 
manner exert their influence : the larger planets, 
Jupiter and Saturn, claim their share in this 
perpetual struggle; the smaller planets, the re- 
mote satellites, even the shadowy comets assert 
their power, and the earth is dragged by con- 
tending forces in every possible direction. Yet 
are all these contending powers so admirably 
equipoised, the one against the other, that this 
mighty globe flies through space, acknowledging 
in her every movement the effects of all these 
differing causes, yet ever linked to her orbit, 
slowly changing, but never changed. 

Thus do we see how wonderfully the various 



78 ASTKONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

parts of this diversified scheme are knit together. 
Not a blade of grass, or a delicate flower shoots 
into life, that is not dependent on the entire 
organization of the vast scheme of planetary 
worlds, which sweep in concord around their 
common center. Does not all this perfection of 
plan, infinitely ramified and diversified, beautiful, 
perfect, admirable, ever perpetuated, not a link 
(however small) wanting in the infinite net-work, 
spreading through every kingdom of nature, 
rising to embrace the sun itself and its attendant 
planets, — does not all this mighty display of con- 
trivance demonstrate with irresistible power the 
being of a God ? 

If we lift our thoughts above our earth and 
survey the various worlds which revolve about 
our sun, the same evidence of design meets us 
at every point. Our earth is one of the hum- 
blest of all the planets. If we visit the mighty 
system of Jupiter, such is the vastness of its 
celestial architecture that all we have left behind 
appears trivial and insignificant. If we go yet 
farther, and survey the still more amazing sys- 
tem of Saturn, with its retinue of attending 



THE BEING OF GOD, 79 

moons, and its girdle of enigmatical rings of 
light, we find displays of power and wisdom so 
resistless, that if all other worlds were stricken 
from existence, enough would here remain to 
demonstrate the being of a God. But these are 
not separate existences. They are not quiescent 
orbs fixed on some unimaginable foundation in 
space. They are all indissolubly united, and all 
flying through space. Whence, then, come the 
wonderful laws of their reciprocal influence, and 
whence the laws which curb their high career ? 
These laws of reciprocal action and of motion 
are the only ones, under whose dominion the 
planetary scheme could exist. Relax for a single 
moment the continuity of their power, and chaos 
instantly engulfs the fair fabric of creation. 
Relax only the power of gravitation and every 
planet shoots madly from its orbit; augment 
ever so slightly its power, the equilibrium is 
destroyed, and world after world sinks into the 
sun. If in the revolution of countless ages, all 
possible laws have by chance held their sway, 
and the present laws have been upturned in the 
long range of possibilities, then we demand how 



80 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

comes it that they endure ? Why do they not 
give place to other schemes in their turn ? This 
we know is not the fact. For more than three 
thousand years in the past history of our sys- 
tem, there has been no shadow of change in these 
mighty laws of nature, — unyielding in them- 
selves, steadily have they wrought out their 
legitimate results. Now what are these laws ? 
Are they attributes of inert matter ? This is 
impossible. Go to the chemist, bid him apply 
the most powerful tests, the most subtle analy- 
sis, and exhaust his powers of research, and 
then let him answer if he have found the essence 
of gravitation. In vain do we seek for these 
alternates : we are forced again to take refuge in 
our great hypothesis, and to declare that these 
so called laws of nature are but the uniform ex- 
pression of the will of an ever-living God. 

The uniformity and perpetuity of these laws 
alone furnish the opportunity for human intelli- 
gence to rise through their examination, in their 
multitudinous effects, upward to the great source 
of all law. Were their action capricious or un- 
certain, no power of genius could have reached 



THE BEING OF GOD. 81 

to a knowledge of their existence, and darkness 
would have ever shrouded the human mind. 

If we extend our researches beyond the limits 
of the solar system, and, passing across the 
mighty gulf which separates us from the starry 
heavens, inspect minutely the organizations 
which are there displayed, we find the dominion 
of these same laws extending to these remote 
regions, and holding an imperious sway over re- 
volving suns. Thus we perceive, that in one most 
important particular, the objects which compose 
the mighty universe are obviously alike, and 
seem to have sprung from a common origin. We 
are, moreover, compelled to admit a sun in every 
visible star; and if a sun, then attendant plan- 
ets; and if revolving planets, then, likewise, 
some scheme of sentient existence, possibly re- 
motely analogous to that which is displayed with 
such wonderful minuteness in our globe. Thus 
if the being of a God can be argued from the 
admirable adaptations which surround man in 
this nether world, every star that glitters in the 
vast concave of heaven proclaims, with equal 

power, this mighty truth. If we rise still higher, 

4* 



82 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES OF 

and from the contemplation of individual stars, 
examine their distribution, their clusterings, their 
aggregations into immense systems, the fact of 
their mutual influences, their restless and eternal 
activity, their amazing periods of revolution, 
their countless millions, and their ever-during 
organizations, the mind, whelmed with the dis- 
play of grandeur, exclaims involuntarily, "This 
is the empire of a God !" 

And now, how is the knowledge of this vast 
surrounding universe revealed to the mind of 
man? Here is, perhaps, the crowning wonder. 
Through the agency of light, a subtle, intangible, 
imponderable something, originating, apparently, 
in the stars and suns, darting with incredible 
velocity from one quarter of the universe to the 
other, whether in absolute particles of matter 
shot off from luminous bodies, or by traces of an 
ethereal fluid, who shall tell? This incompre- 
hensible fluid falls upon an instrument of most 
insignificant dimensions, yet of most wonderful 
construction, the human eye, and, lo ! to the 
mind what wonders start into being. Pictures 
of the most extravagant beauty cover the earth ; 






THE BEING OF 60D. 83 

clouds dipped in the hues of heaven fill the at- 
mosphere; the sun, the moon, the planets, come 
up from out of the deeps of space, and far more 
amazing still, the distant orbs of heaven, in their 
relative magnitudes, distances and motions, are 
revealed to the bewildered mind. We have only 
to proceed one step further, and bringing to the 
aid of the human eye, the auxiliary power of the 
optic glass, the mind is brought into physical 
association with objects which inhabit the con- 
fines of penetrable space. We take cognizance 
of objects so remote, that even the flashing ele- 
ment of light itself, by which they are revealed, 
flies on its errand ten times ten thousand years 
to accomplish its stupendous journey. 

Strike the human eye from existence, and at 
a single blow, the sun is blotted out, the planets 
fade, the heavens are covered with the blackness 
of darkness, the vast universe shrinks to a nar- 
row compass bounded by the sense of touch 
alone. 

Such, then, is the organization of the universe, 
and such the means by which we are permitted 
to take cognizance of its existence and pheno- 



84 ASTRONOMICAL EVIDENCES. 

mena. If the feeble mind of man has achieved 
victories in the natural world — if his puny struc- 
tures, which have survived the attacks of a few 
thousand years, proclaim the superiority of the 
intelligence of his mind to insensate matter — if 
the contemplation of the works of art and the 
triumphs of human genius, swells us into admir- 
ation at the power of this invisible spirit that 
dwells in mortal form, — what shall be the emo- 
tions excited, the ideas inspired, by the contem- 
plation of the boundless universe of God ? 



LECTURE II. 

THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS JEHOYAH. 



LECTURE II. 

THE GOD OF THE TLSTYEESE IS JEHOVAH. 

The sacred Scriptures teach us, in the most 
unequivocal language, the unity of God, the maj- 
esty and grandeur of his kingdom. Jehovah 
inhabiteth eternity, and filleth immensity by his 
presence. By his word the worlds were made, 
and by his power he upholdeth all things. 
Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, he is " God 
over all, blessed for ever." 

Such is the language of revelation, — such the 
truths taught by our sacred volume. If these 
are the declarations of God himself — and the 
same Almighty Being has built the physical 
universe — the revelations of science must accord 
with those of Scripture, and we shall find the 
attributes of God stamped in characters indelible 
on the workmanship of his hands. 

Does the material universe declare the unity 
of God ? Is the domain of nature divided or 



88 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

divisible ? Is there evidence, in the building of 
the mighty fabric of the universe, that it has 
been planned and executed by one mind and by 
one hand ? 

The development of our knowledge of the 
material heavens, has been progressive from cen- 
tury to century. The deeper the human mind 
has penetrated into the arcana of nature, the 
more positive does the evidence become, with 
reference to its origin and government. In the 
primitive ages of the world, while yet the light 
of science had scarcely dawned upon the human 
intellect, when the heavens were a maze of won- 
der, and their golden hieroglyphs a mystery and 
a marvel, human genius could not have risen 
through this unknown empire, up to the knowl- 
edge of the attributes of God. Whatever de- 
ductions we may now reach in our researches, 
no one will venture for one moment to assert 
that the sacred writers, by the same means, 
reached to their notions of the being and attri- 
butes of God. 

If we examine the system which surrounds 
the sun, we find a multitude of worlds, possess- 






IS JEHOVAH. 89 

ing general characteristics. They are generally 
globular, they are in motion, they describe orbits 
of specific forms allied to each other, they are 
all powerfully influenced by the sun, and they 
materially affect each other. The matter, then, 
which constitutes these worlds and the sun 
itself, seems to be identical in one of its great 
characteristics. "When the capacious intellect of 
Newton reached the grand conclusion, that one 
law swayed its dominion over planet, and satel- 
lite, and comet, — when he demonstrated that the 
most solid and the most evanescent bodies were 
obedient to the great principle of attraction, — by 
a generalization as sublime as it was daring, he 
rose to the declaration, that every particle of 
matter in the universe attracted every other par- 
ticle, by a power which diminished as the square 
of the distances between the particles increased. 
Here, then, is a statement which, if it be true, 
demonstrates, in the most positive manner, that 
the matter of which the worlds are built is iden- 
tical in character. But again, the laws which 
govern moving bodies on earth are extended to 
those which inhabit space ; and when the watch- 



90 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

ings of a thousand years had revealed the uni- 
versality of the application of these laws to the 
worlds which constitute the cortege of the sun, 
the same bold generalization carried these same 
laws to the fixed stars, and attempted to fasten 
their dominion on every particle of matter. It 
will be seen at once that these mighty proposi- 
tions are far from being self-evident. Their 
demonstration is the reward of long centuries of 
ardent, and earnest, and patient investigation. 
These laws were first fastened on the moon; next 
the planets, slowly, and one by one, in their 
near proximity to the sun, and, also, in their 
vast orbits deep buried in space, yielded to the 
empire of these potent laws ; and, finally, the 
mysterious comet, aerial, chaotic, capricious in 
its eccentric career, was demonstrated to yield to 
the same potent sway. 

This was, doubtless, a grand achievement thus 
to prove, that in one great scheme of associated 
worlds there was unity of design, unity in mat- 
ter, and unity in law. But this system, vast as 
it is, embracing within its domain a sweep of no 
less than ten thousand millions of miles, is but 



IS JEHOVAH. 91 

an infinitesimal portion of the universe of God. 
Is it possible to reach to the starry heavens, 
passing the gulf of space which separates us 
from these far-distant worlds, and fasten the 
same laws which rule in our system, upon the 
myriads of orbs which crowd the domain of space? 
It is only within a few years that this great 
achievement has been accomplished. Among 
the stars some have been found in such near 
proximity, that their true character is only re- 
vealed by the most powerful telescopes. While 
to the unaided eye, and, indeed, in inferior in- 
struments, they appear as single stars, a higher 
power discovers them to consist of two individual 
objects, in such close proximity of position, that 
their mingled rays are only to be divided by the 
most potent optical aid. 

These objects, within the last half century, 
have attracted the attention of eminent philos- 
ophers, and the most astonishing phenomena 
have been revealed. These double suns have 
been seen to move — they are known to revolve ; 
and the laws of their motion and revolution are 
identical with those which govern the planetary 



92 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

orbs which sweep round the sun. There is no 
deception here. Their orbits have been com- 
puted, their periods and places predicted on the 
hypothesis that the laws of motion and gravita- 
tion extended their empire over these stany 
worlds, and in every particular have these bold 
predictions been verified. How deeply, then, has 
science penetrated the dominion of these laws of 
nature ! The distance is not to be measured by 
the unit employed in the survey of the sun's 
domain. In one instance, in which science has 
figured the orbits, prophesied the periods, weighed 
the masses, measured the distance of two asso- 
ciated suns, their distance from earth is such 
that their light, flying at the rate of twelve 
millions of miles in each minute, reaches us only 
after a journey of ten years. This is not a soli- 
tary instance. Many of a like character have 
been thoroughly investigated, and with like 
results. 

We may affirm, then, with safety and cer- 
tainty, that the countless millions of orbs which 
constitute the universe, are all fashioned from 
the same material, and arc all in subjection to the 



IS JEHOVAH. 93 

dominion of the laws of motion and gravita- 
tion. As the scheme is one, as the matter is 
one, as the laws are the same, so one mind hath 
conceived the infinite plan, and one hand hath 
wrought out the magnificence of creation. 

But the Scriptures disclose the Omnipotence, 
of God ; he hath created all things by his wis- 
dom, and by the might of his power. To the 
mind which fully comprehends the structure of 
the heavens, the power of the Almighty archi- 
tect is most signally displayed : a superficial 
examination may not thus impress us. We wit- 
ness from month to month the revolution of the 
moon about the earth, and from year to year 
their conjoined revolution about the sun ; we 
trace the planets in their harmonious career ; all 
is so simple, so beautiful, that the idea of the 
display of vast power does not at first come 
down upon the mind. 

But let us for one moment contemplate, at 
nearer distance, these ponderous orbs. Examine, 
if you please our own earth, one of the smallest 
of them, and you find a solid globe of 8000 
miles in diameter, possessing a weight so enor- 



94 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

mous, that any and all the structures of men 
upon its surface, sink to utter insignificance in 
the comparison, and weigh as the small dust of 
the balance. And yet, go to the Pyramids of 
Egypt, and contemplate those heavy relics of 
antiquity : how do their vast proportions, the 
solid rocks which constitute their mass, ele- 
vate our ideas of the power which reared these 
huge fabrics. But these are stationary. Could 
they be hurled with swift velocity, from their 
solid bases, by some mighty catapult, into space, 
never again to revisit the earth, our ideas of the 
power requisite to such a phenomenon would be 
greatly enlarged. .Man, by superior wisdom, and 
by the exercise of that intellect which God has 
given, has gained a certain mastery over the 
potent forces of nature ; hence, we witness with 
amazement, the fiery trains, which, with incredi- 
ble velocity, fly upon the iron ways built for 
their appointed tracks. What stupendous power 
is developed in this fiery car of earth ! We in- 
voluntarily shrink from its approach, and tremble 
as it dashes by us, flying with a speed of sixty 
miles in a single hour of time. But what are 



IS JEHOVAH. 95 

these atoms compared with the solid earth itself, 
and what the display of power here, when com- 
pared with that which launched this mighty 
globe, with its continents and oceans, into space, 
and hath dashed it with a velocity such that its 
hourly journey is sixty-eight thousand miles ? 
Or look yet higher to God's fiery car, the sun, 
linked to a thousand revolving worlds ! onward 
its mighty mass, a million of miles in diameter, 
sweeps through space, bearing with it its retinue 
of flaming worlds. 

God's mighty arm hath projected these stu- 
pendous orbs, and his omnipotent power alone 
hath impressed upon them their amazing velocity . 
It is not possible to escape from this conclusion, 
by arguing the laws of motion and attraction. 
These are but the modes in which God exercises 
his power, they are not the power itself. Let 
some gigantic arm reach out and attempt to arrest 
the moon ; were the trial possible, were the power 
of every human arm concentrated into one, even 
the power of the thousands of generations which 
have peopled the earth, even this combined and 
concentrated power could not check this puny 



96 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

orb of heaven for one single moment in its swift 
career. 

Again, what mighty force restrains the planets 
in their orbits ? There is no one who is not 
familiar with the force developed in all revolving 
bodies. If a globe be attached to one extremity 
of a cord, while the other is retained in the hand, 
the moment the globe is set revolving it com- 
mences a struggle to break the cord, and free 
itself from the restraining hand. As the velocity 
of revolution increases, so does this developed 
tendency to fly from the center increase. If, 
then, a planet were located in space, at its appro- 
priate distance from the sun, and receive an im- 
pulse capable of impressing on it the velocity 
due to its orbit, unrestrained by any central 
power, it would fly from its orbit and dart on- 
ward for ever through space in a direct line, 
never turning to the right hand or the left. 
What tremendous power, then, is necessary to bind 
these mighty worlds into their circling orbits ! 
It is again useless to say that this is accom- 
plished by the power of the sun. Matter is inert, 
it can have no power save what God shall give. 



IS JEHOVAH. 97 

As well might we declare that it is the power of 
the bone and muscle of the brawny arm of the 
smith, that wields the ponderous sledge. Sever 
that same powerful arm from the body, the form 
is retained, the muscle and bone are there, but 
mind, the animating principle, is gone, and at the 
instant of its departure all power is dead. So 
sever the sun from the will of God, and in that 
vast aggregation of matter all power dies, its 
light fades, and the planets, loosed front God's 
controlling power, fly madly through the abyss 
of space. 

Nothing short of Omnipotence can hold these 
flying worlds. These are, however, but the 
merest atoms of creation; all their combined 
masses flung into the sun would scarcely augment 
his bulk by an appreciable quantity ; and yet this 
mighty mass, the sun itself, is no more quiescent 
than its attending satellites. It, too, is flying 
through space, impelled and guided by the same 
Omnipotent hand. Stretching yet farther into 
creation, we behold an amazing scene. Not a 
solitary star that fills the concave is at rest ; all, 
all, from the blazing Sirius to the faintest particle 

5 



98 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

of star-dust revealed by telescopic art, are 
careering onward through immensity. System 
rising above sytem ; cluster above cluster ; uni- 
verse above universe; moving with majestic 
grandeur; all held by the right hand of God 
omnipotent. " He ruleth in the armies of heaven, 
and among the inhabitants of the earth." 

It is, perhaps, less difficult to affirm the 
almighty power of the Architect of the Universe, 
than to, demonstrate that in tvisdom supreme has 
he reared this stupendous fabric. The mind is 
far more easily and obviously impressed with the 
evidences of power than of wisdom. Just as 
the resistless power of the steam-car forces itself 
upon our minds through the senses, while the 
evidence of the wisdom displayed in its complex 
structure, can only be derived from the steady 
application of the higher faculties of the mind ; 
so a superficial examination of God's universe, 
demonstrates, through the senses, his eternal 
power, while nothing short of a comprehension 
of the celestial mechanism, can reveal the wis- 
dom supreme displayed in its organization and 
arrangement. 



IS JEHOVAH. 99 

Nothing short of a knowledge of the true sys- 
tem of the universe, can demonstrate the wisdom 
of God. There was a time when the human 
mind, vain of its penetration, conceived it had 
reached the true rendering of heaven's high 
record. Cycle and epi-cycle, equant and deferent, 
marked with terrible and cumbrous complexity, 
the movements of the celestial orbs, until even 
mortal genius rebelled, and boldly (if not blas- 
phemously) asserted, that if this were an evi- 
dence of the. wisdom of God, his mind could have 
better counseled this imagined omniscience. 

Since, however, we have reached to a true 
knowledge of the celestial architecture, the mind, 
the deeper it penetrates, is the more powerfully 
impressed with the wisdom, vast, comprehensive, 
infinite, eternal, in which and through which the 
worlds were made. 

Let us again call to mind the organization of our 
solar system. In the center is located the control- 
ling orb. At varying distances from this com- 
mon center, a multitude of worlds are revolving 
in reentering curves until the most remote in- 
cludes in its capacious orbit, an area whose 



100 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

diameter is 60,000 millions of miles. These 
globes are to be so arranged, that while each 
one is subjected to the influence of every other, 
yet their pathways shall never suffer a change 
beyond narrow and prescribed limits. Their 
orbits shall ever expand and contract, their 
velocities shall ever increase and diminish, the 
planes of their motion shall ever rock to and fro ; 
but at no period in the ages which are to come, 
shall any change so accumulate as to affect the 
equilibrium of this complicated system. If about 
the sun it were required to launch a single planet, 
it might not be difficult to determine the direc- 
tion and power of the primitive impulse, required 
to produce a determinate result. Indeed, release 
the planets and their satellites from the disturb- 
ing influences of each other, and it would not 
then be impossible to achieve the resolution of the 
problem of a perfect and everlasting equilibrium. 
But this is not the condition of the problem in 
nature. There is but one God, so there is but 
one kind of matter. If the will of God energize 
the material of the sun, so does it equally ener- 
gize the material of every planet. While to 



IS JEHOVAH. 101 

finite minds complexity reigns, to the infinite 
intelligence, the oneness of matter, the unity of 
law, form the essence and perfection of simplicity. 
Let us proceed, then, in the examination of 
this sublime problem. Let a power be delegated 
to a finite spirit, equal to the projection of the 
most ponderous planet in its orbit, and from 
God's exhaustless magazine, let this spirit select 
his grand central orb. Let him with puissant 
arm locate it in space, and obedient to his man- 
date, there let it remain for ever fixed. He 
proceeds to select his planetary globes which he 
is now required to marshal, in their appropriate 
order of distance from the sun. Heed well this 
distribution, for should a single globe be mis- 
placed, the divine harmony is destroyed for ever. 
Let us admit that finite intelligence may at 
length determine the order of combination ; the 
mighty host is arrayed in order. Nearest the 
center is located the brilliant Mercury, and then 
the orb of Venus. Next stands this terrene 
globe, and beyond, the fiery Mars, and then a 
wondrous group of minute worlds, far within the 
circling orb of Jupiter is placed. Beyond Jupi 



102 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

ter stands Saturn with his rings ; still more re- 
mote is seen Uranus, and farthest of all Neptune 
stands sentinel on the outposts of this grand 
array. In one vast line of continuity, these 
worlds like fiery coursers, stand waiting the 
command to fly. But, mighty spirit, heed well 
the next grand step ; ponder well the direction 
in which thou wilt launch each waiting world ; 
weigh well the mighty impulse soon to he given, 
for out of the myriads of directions, and the 
myriads of varying impulsive forces, there comes 
but a single combination that will secure the 
perpetuity of your complex scheme. In vain 
does the bewildered finite spirit attempt to 
fathom this mighty depth. In vain does it seek 
to resolve the stupendous problem. It turns 
away, and while endued with omnipotent power, 
exclaims, " Give to me infinite wisdom, or relieve 
me from the impossible task !" 

Here we have presented the simplest possible 
problem. Add to the earth its moon, to Jupiter 
his four satelites ; to Saturn its wondrous rings, 
and eight revolving worlds ; complicate the prob- 
lem with ten thousand fiery comets; God has 



IS JEHOVAH. 103 

computed the perturbations of this complex sys- 
tem, through all its infinite configurations ; through 
infinite ages which are past, and through endless 
ages which are to come. It is useless to rise 
to schemes of yet greater difficulty, for we must 
be satisfied, that nothing short of omniscience 
could have constructed a system so involved, so 
complex, and yet so perfect, in all its multitudin- 
ous parts. 

And yet how utterly insignificant does this 
appear, when compared with the marshaling of 
the mighty host of heaven. Look up to that 
wondrous zone, begirt with blazing stars, scat- 
tered by millions throughout its populous domain. 
Here is a combination so vast, so profound, so 
multitudinous, that imagination fails to grasp its 
mighty boundaries, and yet all is in motion. 
Each one of these myriads has its appointed 
track ; the wisdom of God hath looked through 
the wondrous maze from the beginning, and lo! 
even to the final period of all things, perfection 
reigns. 

We rise to a third attribute of Jehovah, de- 
clared in the sacred writings. God is unchange- 



104 THE GOD OP THE UNIYEKSE 

able, "the same yesterday, to day, and for ever." 
If this be the teaching of revelation, it is no less 
the teaching of science. But for this, man could 
never have risen beyond the sphere of mute 
wonder. It is the fact that God is unchange- 
able, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever, 
that gives to the human mind the power to rise 
upward, through the works of nature, to the 
source of all power and truth. It w r ould not 
have been more difficult for the infinite Creator, 
to have governed the universe, to have upheld 
its worlds, to have sustained the mechanism of 
matter, and the existence of life, without regard 
to any order, or without the dominion of any 
specific laws. 

We do not sufficiently consider this important 
truth. I have elsewhere attempted to demon- 
strate, that the present construction of the uni- 
verse, is specifically adapted to the education and 
elevation of the human intellect. To accomplish 
this the phenomena of nature must be governed 
by fixed laws, otherwise the possibility of pre- 
dicting them could never exist. The will of the 
Almighty is then manifested according to modes 



IS JEHOVAH. 105 

which change not. Look for example, at the 
admirable uniformity of the rotation of our earth 
on its axis j look at the beautiful precision which 
marks the revolution of the planetary orbs : 
while there is variation infinite, there is never 
for one moment a relaxation of any of the supreme 
laws, according to which God has chosen to 
manifest his being and presence. In every atom 
he reigns supreme. Let man attempt to imitate 
this attribute of the Deity ; let him apply his 
power to give uniformity to the rotation of the 
simplest machine, how soon does he discover, 
that his own will, though never so carefully 
guarded, is ever varying, his efforts are ever re- 
laxing or augmenting, and he soon yields in utter 
despair, at attaining uniform results even for a 
single hour. But the will of the Supreme, 
moves the universe, while no stretch of scientific 
research has ever yet detected the slightest 
variation or shadow of turning, — ever perfect, 
ever divine. 

In tracing the relative positions of the sun, 
moon, and earth, we have been able to penetrate 

the past, backward three thousand years. Their 

5* 



106 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

relative movements have been scanned, the 
earth's rotation on its axis, the moon's revolu- 
tion in its orbit, the earth's annual circuit about 
the sun. These are so linked together, that any 
change ever so minute, is within the grasp of 
the powers of science. 

In one instance, indeed, it seemed that the 
law by which the power of God is ordinarily dis- 
played, must be modified in those remote ages 
of the world. The moon seemed to be slowly 
breaking away from its orbit. There was an 
evident augmentation of her mean velocity, from 
century to century, and her present position 
appeared to be at least three times her own 
diameter in advance of her computed place. The 
cause of this startling phenomenon was long and 
earnestly sought. Was it indeed true, that one 
of the elements of equilibrium was slowly wast- 
ing away ? Should this be demonstrated, what 
terrible consequences did it involve ? Nothing 
short of. the final decay and death of the entire 
system; slowly, indeed, but surely, one by one, 
the planets must sink into the blazing sun, and 
the space which once flashed with their living 



-IS JEHOVAH. 107 

light must become once again, the domain of 
darkness and of death. 

But faith sustained the research. As God 
can not change, so the laws of his manifestation 
are, in like manner, immutable : this apparent 
deviation was finally traced to its origin, and 
revealed one of the most astonishing phenomena 
in the universe of God. 

The moon's acceleration was found to be due 
to a gradual change in the figure of the earth's 
orbit, accomplished in a vast period of thousands 
and thousands of years, by the combined influ- 
ence of all the planets. It is now, and has been, 
expanding for thousands of years, and will so 
continue to expand, until its figure shall become 
circular, when the same power will reverse its 
action, and the circular is again slowly reduced 
to the elliptical orbit. So long as the circuit of 
the earth's orbit is on the increase, so long will 
the moon's mean motion be accelerated; but 
when this shall have reached its limit, and con- 
traction begins, then will the moon's motion lose, 
by slow degrees, the velocity it had gained, and 



108 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

once more, at the close of some millions of years, 
return to its primitive condition. 

This is not a solitary example of these won- 
drous exhibitions of the invariability of the 
manifestations of God's power. Not an element, 
in all the planetary orbits, is absolutely fixed, — . 
all is changing, yet ever in accordance with 
God's great law. The source of power is eternal, 
the law of its manifestation everlasting, and the 
decree has gone forth throughout the universe : 
Thus far shall your mighty fluctuations go, but 
no farther ; the limits of vibration are fixed and 
immutable as the pillars of heaven. 

We now proceed to the consideration of the 
ubiquity of God. "He filleth immensity by his 
presence," is the declaration of the sacred volume. 
How grand the idea, how sublime the concep- 
tion! Could unaided, uninspired mind have 
risen to so wonderful a thought ? 

If we have been successful in presenting con- 
clusive evidence of the being of a God ; if this 
supreme intelligence is indeed the living spirit 
of the universe ; if at his bidding the sun pours 
forth its ceaseless floods of light and heat ; if by 



IS JEHOVAH. 109 

his almighty arm the worlds are projected and 
guided in their orbits ; — then indeed, so far as 
creation extends, to the very outermost confines 
of inhabitable space, God dwelleth by his Spirit, 
exercising a positive, direct, immediate control 
over the works of his hands. As the spirit of 
man pervades every particle of his corporeal 
frame, enduing it with life, and energy, and 
power, so must the Spirit of God pervade every 
atom of created matter. Should he for one mo- 
ment withdraw his sustaining power, not only 
would chaos come, but even matter itself would 
cease to be. 

But let us examine, for one moment, how far 
we are warranted in the use of the sublime ex- 
pression, — His presence filleth immensity. Once 
our knowledge of the universe was limited to a 
region of space so minute, that when compared 
with what has since been revealed, it seems but 
an inferior corner in the empire of God. Had 
this been all, had the stars visible to the naked 
eye constituted the entire universe, it would 
have been possible to have pierced far beyond 
these limits, and to have demonstrated that ere- 



110 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

ation was finite. It is true that even the bound- 
aries of such a kingdom are immense. It is 
computed, from data not to be questioned, that 
the eye has the power of discerning single stars 
at- so great a distance, that their light can not 
pass it in less than a hundred years, though fly- 
ing in every minute of time, twelve millions of 
miles ; and yet, compared with the now visible 
boundaries of creation, this incredible and incom- 
prehensible distance shrinks to an almost insen- 
sible point. 

I will not here undertake to explain how it is 
that the telescope enables the eye to penetrate 
space. That this power belongs to this magic 
instrument, no one can doubt who has ever seen 
a small, feeble star, converted by optical power 
into a magnificent orb, forty times more exten- 
sive than the moon's surface, as viewed by un- 
aided vision. Who could have divined the 
nature of the revelations which would be made 
by an instrument giving to the eye a depth of 
penetration a thousand-fold greater than it pos- 
sessed by nature ? If, indeed, the Creator is 
infinite, if his august presence filleth immensity, 



IS JEHOVAH. Ill 

then we had a right to anticipate that, no matter 
how deep the eye of man might pierce the 
domain of space, a point never could be reached 
wherein the evidences of God's presence would 
not appear. Such has been the result of the 
application of the telescope to sounding the 
mighty depths of the universe. Every aug- 
mentation of power has served to reveal new 
wonders ; every increased depth to which the 
eye has penetrated, has evoked from the view- 
less depths of space, millions on millions of shin- 
ing orbs, until the imagination is overwhelmed 
as well by the teeming numbers as by the mighty 
distances to which these island universes are 
removed. Conceive, if it be possible, of an 
object so remote that its light, flashing with a 
speed which no mind can comprehend, should 
still occupy a million of years in passing the 
mighty interval by which it is removed ! and yet 
there is evidence that we now behold with the 
most powerful tubes, objects even ten, twenty, or 
thirty times more remote. We yield the point, 
and, in humble adoration, repeat the language of 
the sacred book, He inhabiteth eternity, his 



112 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

presence filleth immensity, and of his kingdom 
there is no end ! 

Such, indeed, is the effect produced by the 
telescopic explorations of the universe, that man 
has ceased to doubt the infinitude of God's em- 
pire, and now limits his ambition to a deeper 
penetration into its grandeur, without ever in- 
dulging the thought that he shall by any power 
pierce beyond its mighty limits. Lo ! these are 
a part of his ways, but the thunder of his power 
who can understand ? No one can rise to a full 
comprehension of the majesty of the kingdom of 
God, who has not had some opportunity of 
employing in his researches high optical power- 
Language is inadequate to convey any just idea, 
of the splendors which burst on the sight, as the 
silent stars by millions go trooping across the 
field of vision. Space is not by any means 
equally populous in all directions. There are 
regions occasionally presenting themselves in 
which not a ray of light illumines the gloom of 
what would seem eternal night, while on the 
very confines of these starless patches, bright 
and dazzling regions burst upon the vision. 



IS JEHOVAH. 113 

After penetrating beyond the zone of the 
Milky Way (a universe of itself), other objects 
are descried, which, to any but the highest 
optical power, are but faint clouds of light, but 
under the focus of the great telescopes, reveal 
their composition, exhibiting aggregations of 
innumerable stars, so remote that only their 
combined light can penetrate the enormous dis- 
tance. These can not be otherwise interpreted. 
Their magnitude must be beyond measurement, 
while the number of their objects is beyond com- 
putation. 

These islands of light are already counted by 
thousands, — each, doubtless, a universe vast and 
populous as that with which our own central orb 
is specifically allied. Every accession of optical 
power transforms their hazy masses into figures 
of the most astonishing complexity. Some are 
seen under the form of enormous spiral shells, 
with convolution on convolution, with dense 
central masses glowing with splendor, each 
convolution streaked with brilliant patches, 
gradually developing a train of astonishing gran- 
deur. Several of these scroll-shaped universes, 



114 THE GOD OF THE UNIVEESE 

have been revealed, and it has been surmised; 
with much appearance of truth, that even our 
own Milky Way, if it could be seen in a direc- 
tion perpendicular to its broadest extent, would 
exhibit a figure of like character. What these 
stupendous spiral forms may indicate, is yet be- 
yond the grasp of human intelligence. 

Other clusters are found which present the 
globular figure, with evident condensation at the 
center; others, again, assume the figure of rings 
of hazy light, while in others there is no appear- 
ance of definite organization. This, in many 
instances, is no doubt due to the fact, that 
no optical power, however great, has thus far 
been sufficient to reveal the true forms of objects 
sunk in space, to such immeasurable depths. If 
we are amazed with the magnificence of these 
objects, if by them we are taught the vastness of 
God's empire, we are no less overwhelmed when 
we consider the number of individual objects 
which claim the special guardianship of Jehovah. 

It is reckoned that not less than one hundred 
millions of stars are now visible, within the limits 
of the Milky Way. In case we admit that each 



IS JEHOVAH. 115 

of these stars is a sun, and that each is the cen- 
ter of surrounding planets, we are forced to 
admit the existence of a thousand millions of 
worlds, within the limits of one single aggregation, 
one great and populous cluster. Shall we say 
that hut one of these thousand millions of worlds 
is filled with life and intelligence, and that one 
among the most insignificant ? This would surely 
be utter madness. People, then, these millions 
of worlds with inhabitants, proportioned to 
their extent of surface, and how amazing is 
the number of the population of the empire of 
God! 

We have, however, here only considered a 
single province. Multiply again by a thousand 
all we have said or seen, and we shall even then 
fail to reach the limit of actual telescopic revela- 
tion. Well may we exclaim, " The heavens 
declare the glory of God," while "the firmament 
showeth forth his handy-work." 

Thus do we find abundant evidence, that the 
presence of the Most High filleth immensity. 
It is likewise declared, by the sacred writers, in 
many places, that Jehovah inhabiteth eternity ; 



116 THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 

his kingdom is from everlasting to everlasting, 
and of his dominion there is no end. No attri- 
bute of the Supreme is more inscrutable than his 
eternity. Without beginning, without end, self- 
existent, everlasting. God manifesteth himself 
in time, but he inhabiteth eternity. We can not 
undertake to demonstrate the eternal being of 
God from his works, which are not eternal. They 
had a beginning and may therefore have an end, 
but we are permitted to reason analogically, and 
while it is impossible to compass the idea of 
eternity, either past or future, we may at least 
expand our conceptions, by an examination of 
the mighty periods of time embraced within the 
range of the physical creation. 

All is accordant in this mighty temple built 
"without hands, eternal in the heavens." If the 
universe, by the number and splendor of its orbs, 
by their masses and magnitudes, by the stupen- 
dous scale on which it is built, by the simplicity 
of the laws by which it is governed, declares in 
letters of living light, the being and attributes 
of the ever-living God, so do the periods of rev- 
olution worked out in the heavens demonstrate 



IS JEHOVAH. 117 

that with him a thousand years are as one day, 
and one day as a thousand years. 

We are told that "in the beginning, God cre- 
ated the heavens and the earth," but who shall 
measure by mortal years, when that beginning 
was ? We have evidence full and conclusive, in 
the rocky records of the earth itself, of the vast 
periods of time which have rolled away, since 
the dawn of creation began. If we interrogate 
the heavens, the same response is made. If it 
be true, that in case at this very moment, the 
entire universe of God were blotted from exis- 
tence, all save the earth itself, that even now 
with our present telescopic power, the last object 
would not fade from our view fbr millions of 
years ; then, indeed, we are forced to admit that 
millions of years have elapsed, since these re- 
mote objects were called into being, and their 
light darted on its infinite journey to the earth. 

There is no escape from this conclusion. Let 
it not be thought that these teachings are in con- 
tradiction to the Word of God. In its appro- 
priate place this subject will be fully treated, 
and if we are not mistaken, all seeming discrep- 



1]8 THE GOD OF T II E UX-I VERSE 

ancy will be removed. From these two sources, 
then, the earth and the heavens, we deduce a 
pre-existence of the universe, only to be reck- 
oned by millions of years. If now we examine 
more clearly the periods assigned to the revolu- 
tions of the celestial orbs, we are amazed at the 
grandeur and sublimity displayed in the going-on 
of this divine machinery. Leaving the periods 
of the planets of our own system, we rise to an 
examination of the binary stars, and while some 
arc performing their revolutions in periods of 
comparatively short duration, in others there is 
evidence, that a single revolution of one body 
around another is not completed in less than a 
million of years ! This is but the revolution of 
an object about another. In case we proceed 
upward to more complex systems, these mighty 
periods of time expand and swell, till finally it 
seems that eternity alone can furnish the requi- 
site ages, wherein a single revolution of the 
multiplied orbs of God's universe, may be com- 
pletely effected, and all return to the points 
from which they were projected, to commence 
anew their mighty cycle of never-ending motion. 



IS JEHOVAH. 119 

Thus, does* time almost swell into eternity; 
and, if such be the creature, what must be the 
Creator ? 

We have thus, from an examination of the 
physical organization of the universe of matter, 
demonstrated the unity of God, his almighty 
power, his infinite wisdom. We have shown 
that he inhabiteth eternity, and that his presence 
filleth immensity. By his direct power the 
world was not only formed, but this same power 
is momentarily employed to sustain the vast 
superstructure, which has been reared in wis- 
dom. Whence, then, we demand, did the writers 
of the Hebrew Scriptures derive their perfect 
ideas of the Creator of the universe? They 
never penetrated the arcana of nature. They 
never pierced with optic tube the realms of 
space. They never tracked the swift planet, or 
the fiery comet. They knew nothing of the 
mighty laws of matter, the modes of God's won- 
derful display. They had learned nothing of 
the vastness of the universe from positive in- 
spection, and yet in the most wonderful man- 
ner, and in language which no tongue can equal, 



120 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE 



have they portrayed the attributes of God. Can 
any one answer this inquiry, without resorting 
to the hypothesis that this wonderful knowledge 
is the direct revelation of God ? This, then, is 
our solution, this the only explanation which 
our feeble powers find it possible to present. 

Examine the writings of the sages of an- 
tiquity, even the philosophy of the profound 
Roman and the subtle Greek. These had equal 
opportunity to reach to a knowledge of the at- 
tributes of their Jupiter Creator, but even the 
imagination heated by poetic fire, failed to picture 
forth more than the feeble shad o wings of that 
grand, awful, and sublime Jehovah, portrayed in 
the sacred volume. 

Shall we attempt to proceed further in our 
deductions from the structure of nature ? There 
are certain attributes of the Deity, which per- 
haps the material universe can not reveal. The 
material kingdom of God is governed only by 
physical laws, and can not be affected by the 
attributes of divine love, divine goodness, divine 
mercy. It is only towards God's rational crea- 
tures that these affections of the divine mind 



IS JEHOVAH. 121 

can be exercised. We can not, however, affirm 
that the benevolence of the Supreme mind is 
not distinctly revealed in the physical constitu- 
tion of our earth, and its allied bodies. When 
we examine the endless, admirable contrivances 
by which human happiness is extended ; when 
we perceive the forms of grace and beauty which 
fill the earth ; the wonderful pictures in clouds 
and in the landscape ; the glowing tints of heaven, 
and the rich effulgence which sparkles on the 
earth, we are led to exclaim, that God is good ! 
When we comprehend how intimately our being 
is interwoven with the fabric of material nature, 
the air we breathe, the sparkling fount that slakes 
our thirst, the rich and luscious fruits, and gentle 
breezes of earth, that give healthy vigor to our 
frames, — what must be the attributes of that 
Eternal intelligence which has called into being 
the matter of innumerable worlds, which has, 
with geometry profound, fashioned these count- 
less systems ; with compass and measuring line 
meted out their habitation, and appointed to each 
its abode in space ? 

Nature not only declares with voices innum- 



122 



THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, 



erable, deep as the pealing of ten thousand thun- 
ders, the being of a God, but in all the pillars 
of her empire, in all the magnificence of her 
architecture, in her architraves and archways, in 
her star-lit domes of superlative grandeur, in the 
resistless motions of her multitudinous worlds, 
in the interminable extent of her empire, she 
proclaims the attributes of her omnipotent Crea- 
tor and God. 

These are the themes to which we shall next 
invite your attention. 



LECTUKE III. 

THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY THE PRESENT 
STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 



LECTURE III. 

THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY THE PRESENT STATE 
OF ASTRONOMY. 

The most wonderful volume in existence is, 
beyond a doubt, the Bible. It is wonderful for 
its high pretensions, for its almost incredible 
claims to divine origin, for its exceeding anti- 
quity. It is wonderful in its revelation of the 
being of God, and in its declarations concerning 
the attributes of this Almighty Spirit. It is 
wonderful for its professed revelation of the 
creation of the universe, the formation of man, 
the origin of evil, man's fall from innocence, and 
his restoration to happiness. It is wonderful for 
its daring chronology, its positive history, its 
prophetic declarations. It is wonderful on ac- 
count of its sublime philosophy, its exquisite 
poetry, its magnificent figures, its overwhelming 
language of description. It is wonderful for the 
diversity of its writers, diverse in their attain- 



126 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

ments, countries, languages, and education. It is 
wonderful for its boldness, in the use of illustra- 
tions, metaphors, figures, drawn from every depart- 
ment of human knowledge, from natural history, 
from meteorology, from optics, from astrono- 
my. It is wonderful for the superior conceptions 
of its writers, of the grandeur and magnificence 
of the physical universe. It is wonderful that 
it has exposed itself to attack and destruction, 
at every point of time, by every discovery of 
man, by the revelations of geology, chronology, 
history, ancient remains disemboweled from the 
earth, by astronomy, by the discoveries of natu- 
ral history, and, above all, by the non-fulfillment 
of its historical predictions. And it is most of 
all wonderful, that up to the present time, in the 
opinion of hundreds of thousands of the judicious, 
reflecting, and reasoning, among earth's inhabi- 
tants, during three thousand years since its 
first book was written, it has maintained its high 
authority, and has retained in all this vast lapse 
of time a powerful sway over the human mind. 

On all these accounts (exclusive of its moral 
teachings, its grand primary object), no one will 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 127 

deny that it is a volume demanding the most 
attentive and patient investigation. It has not 
escaped overthrow for lack of enemies. It has been 
assailed at every point, — its history, its theology, 
its chronology, its cosmogony, its astronomy, its 
geology, all these in their turn have been at- 
tacked by the cultivators of science, and by the 
onward movement and development of each suc- 
ceeding age. The philosophy of Greece has de- 
parted. The hoary astronomy of three thousand 
years, has perished in the grave. The gods of 
antiquity, the Olympic Jupiter, the dazzling 
Apollo, the trident-bearing Neptune, and the 
forger of Heaven's thunderbolts, are all swept 
away by the onward heaving of the human 
mind, if not by the superior power of the reve- 
lations of this wonderful volume. And yet, the 
most venerable system of all remains, and to 
this system we are compelled by reason, by 
sound sense, by pure philosophy, to turn and in- 
quire how this is, and whence the mystery of 
perpetuity and powerful tenacity of life. All 
else dies while the Bible survives. Even the 
nation from whence it sprang, the languages in 



128 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

which it was composed, the countries of its birth 
scarcely exist, but in its marvelous pages. If, 
indeed, it be the Word of the ever-living God, 
then, indeed, the mystery is revealed ; but if this 
high claim can not be maintained, he who disbe- 
lieves must frame a theory by which the present 
facts may be reasonably explained. 

It must be borne in mind that the books of 
this volume were composed at periods of time 
widely separated ; a lapse of nearly 2000 years 
intervenes between the date of the compositions 
of Moses and the Revelation of St. John, the 
divine ; and now nearly a like period has rolled 
away, since the sacred canon was closed, and 
the book was sealed up for ever, nothing more 
to be added, and from its finished contents noth- 
ing ever to be taken. It was closed up amid 
the spendors of the Roman empire, when litera- 
ture, and art, and philosophy, held their golden 
reign over the civilized world. It was fully 
finished while yet science was in its infancy; 
during the reign of error, and ignorance, and 
prejudice, and long before the truths of science, 
in any of its departments, had yet shed their 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 129 

light upon the world. During these eighteen 
hundred years of the Christian era, for this 
volume has even given an era to the most culti- 
vated nations of earth, the human mind has not 
been idle. In history it has searched the buried 
ruins of past centuries, it has disentombed 
mighty cities, colossal columns, endless hiero- 
glyphs. It has read on coins, on medals, on 
inscriptions of the rocks, in monumental piles, in 
sculptured enigmas, the history of the past. The 
fragments of the primitive writers of all nations 
have been collected, the Egyptian Manetho, the 
Babylonian Berosus, the Phoenician Sanchonia- 
thon, — all have been searched to fling their light 
far back into the dark clouds which engloom the 
past. Chronology has brought to her aid the 
discoveries of modern science, and the celestial 
revolutions have been marshaled in her service. 
Geology has upheaved the crust of the solid 
earth, and deep delving, she has dug up the 
remains of former generations. Plants and ani- 
mals, insects and reptiles, the inhabitants of a pri- 
meval, preadamite earth, in their classes, orders, 
genera, and species, have all been brought under 



130 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

the bright focus of scientific investigation. Above 
the earth, science has soared into the clouds of 
heaven, and from her lofty height she has re- 
vealed the facts and phenomena which crowd 
earth, ocean, and atmosphere. The lightning's 
blaze and the thunder's peal, the soft dew, the 
gentle zephyr, and the blasting tornado, have all 
been studied. Far beyond in the blue ether she 
has winged her flight. She has pierced the 
bright canopy of heaven, and opened up the 
amazing universe which towers on every hand, 
lost, interminable in the unfathomable depths of 
space. In short, since the closing of the sacred 
canon, a new world has been revealed, and science 
on her uplifted throne, quadruple-crowned, sways 
a scepter over a boundless empire, which then 
had no existence. If, then, this so-called sacred 
volume be a tissue of falsehood, if its philosophy 
be false, its theology false, its morals false, its 
cosmogony false, its astronomy false, its history 
false, its productions false, its natural science 
false, its geology false, its chronology false, then 
indeed let it beware, for science is marshaling 
its forces with strength irresistible, pouring in 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 131 

from the east, west, north, and sonth ; ascending 
from heights insurmountable, rising from depths 
unfathomable ; all, all, conspiring the overthrow 
and final destruction of every system which is 
not founded on the solid rock of truth itself. 

No one with a soul, which has ever risen above 
the clouds of prejudice, can for one moment 
regret the downfall of error. Who regrets the 
destruction of the philosophy of Aristotle, of 
the astronomy of Ptolemy? But it may be 
demanded is the Bible open to attack ? Does it 
pretend to teach any system of science ? Yes, 
it pretends to teach theology, morals, and religion, 
directly and positively, while it adverts indirectly 
to every branch of science, and in these occas- 
ional allusions, lays itself open to attack at a 
thousand points. It is again demanded, whether 
its writers did not studiously avoid any commit- 
ment, with reference to matters of pure science ? 
In case this be true, then is it one of the most 
inexplicable of marvels, that each one of this 
multitude of writers, scattered along the shores 
of the descending current of time for two thou- 
sand years, each one as his occasion required, 



132 THE COSMOGONY AS BEVEALED BY 

boldly reaching out his hand into the dark, and 
dragging to his use whatever of science his sub- 
ject demanded, and yet with such wise caution, 
that the full blaze of truth and knowledge may 
never detect the ignorance of him, who thus 
plunges at random into the gloom of scientific 
night. It # may be asserted that positive state- 
ments have been avoided in the simplest of 
ways, — that there were none known, to be made. 
But this is not the fact. Positive statements are 
made, and that too in the most unequivocal lan- 
guage. I need only cite the order of creation, 
the facts of history, the predictions of the future, 
the universal deluge ; while to each of the other 
departments of knowledge there is constant 
reference. 

The Bible, then, is open to attack — indeed, it 
is in no possible point guarded from attack. 
There is no shield but truth for its sacred char- 
acter ; there is no bulwark but truth to defend it 
from the assaults of its enemies ; and if there be 
those who, after mature study of its pages, have 
reached the conclusion that this is the great 
volume of God's truth, surely it is just that the 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY . 133 

grounds of their belief should be set forth, that 
others may read, reflect, and decide. I proceed, 
then, without further delay, to consider the cos- 
mogony of the universe as developed in the 
Mosaic history of the creation. Before it be 
possible to approach the discussion of this sub- 
ject, we must make as clear a development as 
possible of the present state of our scientific 
knowledge, with reference to this deeply pro- 
found and mysterious subject. 

The topics to which we now invite your atten- 
tion, are among the most sublime that ever 
engaged the powers of an intelligent mind. 
Whence sprang this mighty universe of blazing 
suns ? Whence these multitudinous worlds which 
circle round their central orbs, far flying through 
the deep of space, freighted with their number- 
less inhabitants ? Were they brought into being 
by the fiat of Omnipotence ? Did the command 
go forth, Let the universe be ! and at the bidding 
of God, did sun and system, satellite and planet, 
and all the blazing host of heaven, and the 
mighty schemes which fill the deep profound, 
burst into sudden being, and flash their splen- 



134 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

dors throughout the startled empire of vacuity ? 
Or is there a plan, wise, deep, and eternal, 
mighty as God, extensive as space, comprehen- 
sive as immensity, working backward through 
innumerable millions of ages deep into primeval 
time, and working forward, through countless 
revolutions of heaven's host, to ages in the future 
to which no mortal power of thought can pene- 
trate ? Which is the more consistent witli what 
we are able to learn of the workmanship of God 
in this goodly world which we inhabit ? Are 
there here manifested any sudden bursts of 
being, or is all progressive ? Whence came the 
forests which clothe the earth? Whence the 
monarch oak which rears heavenward its thun- 
der-scarred form? Does it spring into being, 
as leaps the electric spark from the dark bosom 
of the cloud ? We know its origin ; and though 
generations roll away as this gigantic tree slowly 
rears its crest, we are well assured of its begin- 
ning, and can affirm positively of its gradual 
development. 

This is the universal analogy of all that claim 
existence upon the earth. Indeed, we may go 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 135 

still farther, and affirm that the crust of the 
earth itself is but the record of successive revo- 
lutions, marking the great epochs in the past 
history of the world. So far, then, as we are 
able to* trace the direct manifestations of God 
in the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, 
He works by means, and according to a plan. 
If we ascend to the organization of the solar 
system we shall perceive even here that it is 
built on a plan, and in accordance with certain 
great and governing laws. The same appears to 
be true of the various aggregations of stars, and 
of the mighty astral systems of space. This, 
however, is an examination made in the condi- 
tion of maturity. It is like the exhibition of 
design in the structure of the full grown oak, 
already alluded to. We can not so surely trace 
the development of a system of worlds. We 
can not so certainly behold them forming under 
our eye ; although possibly this process may at 
this moment be advancing. In case we could 
trace absolutely the formation of our single sys- 
tem from its primitive amorphous state, to a con- 
dition of full development, then we might with 



136 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

certainty extend these processes to all the sys- 
tems already in existence ; as this is impossible, 
at least in the present state of science, we are 
left somewhat to conjecture and speculation, 
though of course all speculation must be in 
accordance with the phenomena of Nature. We 
may frame theories and test them by facts, until 
their truth or falsehood shall have been demon- 
strated. I shall not stop to present the various 
theories which have been successively framed, to 
account for the existent condition of the planetary 
system. I shall confine my remarks solely to 
that one, which has of late years become some- 
what noted, in consequence of its abandonment 
by certain prominent individuals, who had previ- 
ously been its ardent advocates. It is the more 
notorious from the fact, that it has been em- 
ployed as the foundation on which an extraor- 
dinary system of materialism has been con- 
structed, involving the idea that creation is but a 
series of accidental and progressive developments. 
I allude, of course, to the celebrated nebular 
hypothesis of Sir William Herschel, better 
known as Laplace's theory, in consequence of 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY 137 

the extension and application it had received 
from this learned French geometrician. 

There are those, doubtless, who have conceived 
an aversion to this theory, in consequence of its 
supposed atheistic tendency. It would be highly 
unphilosophical to reject any theory on such a 
ground. If it be a mere speculation, unsusceptible 
of being brought to the test of actual discussion, 
then indeed its tendency to evil would be a valid 
reason for its rejection. After the repeated 
mistakes and blunders of the unlearned multi- 
titude, in these same matters, let us beware how 
we, in this age of progression, and freedom of 
opinion, plunge into like errors. 

It was once thought that the doctrines of 
Galileo were at variance with truth and revela- 
tion. I presume there is no one at the present 
day who will undertake to assert that this same 
Copernican system is not firmly fixed on the 
foundation of truth, while revelation remains as 
undisturbed as though Copernicus had never 
lived. 

Let us, then, abandon our prejudices, and, with 
philosophic and honest candor, examine the 



138 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

foundation on which this theory rests its claims 
to credence. 

It is well known to all, that Sir William Her- 
schel was the first who succeeded in the con- 
struction of powerful reflecting telescopes. He 
constructed one of these instruments of so enor- 
mous a magnitude, that in case its dimensions 
had not been surpassed in our own day, it would 
seem almost incredible that such an instrument 
could have >een upreared, and directed to the 
examination of the celestial sphere. 

The diameter of its speculum was no less than 
four feet, while the ponderous iron tube, was 
forty feet in length. With this gigantic instru- 
ment, possessing a power transcendently greater 
than that of human vision, concentrating as it 
did, the light from the most remote objects, 
on the pupil of its enormous eye, Sir William 
undertook a thorough review of the entire celes- 
tial region, visible in the latitude in which he 
was located. Objects of wonderful form and of 
most mysterious character not unfrequently pre- 
sented themselves to his view, as they floated 
cloud-like across the field of his mighty tele- 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY 139 

scope. They were not stars, they did not pre- 
sent the appearance of clusters of stars, they 
shone with a dim mysterious light, without 
definite outline, shadowy in their character, and 
only rendered more enigmatical, the more advan- 
tageous the circumstances under which they 
were viewed. These objects of which he dis- 
covered many hundreds, nay even thousands, he 
named nebulae, and these he subdivided and 
classified, according to their distinctive charac- 
teristics. Among these we find resolvable nebu- 
lae, those which are manifestly composed of stars, 
yet so distant that no optical power then in use, 
could disentangle the rays which were mingled 
in their vast journey to the earth. Others were 
termed planetary nebulae, from their resem- 
blance to a planetary disc. A very large class, 
in which no evidence of possible resolvability 
was found, were denominated amorphous nebulae. 
Among these last, a great variety of objects 
existed : some were discovered so faint and deli- 
cate as scarcely to stain the deep blue of ether, 
and indeed were invisible to any but the most 
experienced eye, and even this eye must first 



140 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

have been subjected to powerful action of long 
continued and deep darkness, to develope its 
acutest sensibilities ; others again were enor- 
mous in their magnitude, filling field after field 
of the instrument, with their shadowy forms 
pierced here and there by enormous cavities, jet 
black, and lighted up in spots with concentra- 
tions of greater splendor. 

Many were the speculations which passed 
through the mind of the great discoverer as to 
the true character of these anomalous objects. 
He was familiar with the forms and appearance 
of the clusters of stars. Hundreds of these 
objects, which had resisted the power of all 
preceding telescopes, had been resolved into 
stars by his own great instruments. In the 
outset he naturally adopted the hypothesis, that 
all these hazy clouds of light, so profusely scat- 
tered through the regions of space, were nothing 
more than vast aggregations of stars, so deeply 
sunk in space as to defy the space-penetrating 
power of his largest-sighted telescopes. But a 
more extended examination finally led him to 
doubt, and at last a discovery broke in upon him, 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 141 

which drove him from this hypothesis, and led 
him to the formation of another, which is, per- 
haps, the boldest which human thought has ever 
conceived. The phenomenon which so riveted 
his gaze was the halo of this hazy, nebulous 
light, in whose center shone a well-formed and 
perfect star ! How could this phenomenon 
receive an explanation on his old hypothesis ? 
In case the shadowiog envelope of this central 
star was itself but the aggregation of millions of 
stars, how vastly superior in magnitude and 
brilliancy over all the others must that central 
orb be, which so far outshone the millions of 
millions by which it was surrounded. On the 
other hand, in case we attribute to the central 
body a magnitude conformable with that of the 
other stars of heaven of equal luminosity, how 
utterly insignificant must be those countless 
stars, whose combined light appeared but as a 
faint, luminous atmosphere around the central 
orb? 

This object, then, combined with a multitude 
like it, sustained by the various other pheno- 
mena of nebulous bodies, finally induced Her- 



142 THE COSMOGONY AS EEVEALED BY 

sciiel to adopt the notion, that matter manifested 
itself in the heavens in two distinct forms : first, 
as perfectly formed and solid stars, or suns and 
planets ; second, in nebulous masses of chaotic 
and vaporous matter, enormous in extent, of 
exceeding tenuity, and in every way analogous 
to the trains of luminous particles which not 
unfrequently attend the more solid portions of 
the great comets which occasionally visit our 
system from the remoter regions of space. 

As these vast masses of nebulous mist are 
known to concentrate and settle down upon the 
nucleus of the comet, it was not difficult to 
extend this idea to the possible condensation of 
the vaporous envelopes of the fixed stars upon 
these luminaries, and finally to rise to the 
thought that possibly this chaotic, nebulous, 
amorphous fire-mist might be the primordial 
condition of matter, and that the nebulous stars 
were specimens of the imperfectly condensed 
matter. This bold thought appeared to be abun- 
dantly sustained by succeeding investigations. 
The most marvelous forms were revealed, such 
as double nebulae with condensing centers ; dou- 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 143 

ble stars, with trains of interjacent nebulous 
matter, apparently under the positive, condens- 
ing power of each of the bright centers ; nebulous 
masses, with partial condensation, about well- 
defined nuclei, having dark vacuities, through 
which shone the deep and distant heavens as 
through a window. Such, indeed, was the accu- 
mulation of evidence in favor of this astonishing 
theory, that Herschel at length promulgated his 
views to the world, and presented the evidences 
on which his opinions were based. He conceived 
that the all-prevalent power of universal gravi- 
tation was now actually exerting itself over 
these nebulous masses of matter, and that even 
now worlds were forming in the womb of space; 
while the myriads of bright orbs which fill the 
heavens had their origin in the same chaotic 
matter, wrought into form and beauty by the 
action of these same laws of universal gravita- 
tion. Here, then, was a cosmogony of the 
stellar heavens, far different from any thing 
previously propounded. It exhibited a mighty 
scheme of development. God's creative power 
had called matter into being. In its primitive, 



144 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

nebulous condition, it had filled the boundless 
expanse of space. The omnipotent Spirit had 
breathed upon this unfinished ocean, life had 
burst upon it, and the will of God, operative 
and manifested in the great law of gravitation, 
had commenced and carried forward, through the 
countless millions of ages of the past, the grand 
work of perpetual development. 

The idea was at least sublime. There was 
nothing in it, as thus presented, to shock the 
feelings of the most devoted friend of the sacred 
volume. It was but another round mounted by 
the human mind, in its effort to ascend through 
Nature closer to. the throne of Nature's God. It 
was in accordance with all the developments of 
the workmanship of God's fingers on earth. All 
else was progressive development, from the 
tender flower to the sturdy oak, from the most 
delicate insect to the gigantic Behemoth. Man, 
made in the image of God, received his strength 
and power, and wisdom, by slow degrees, and 
why should not the all-pervading principle 
extend itself, even to the glorious orbs that God 
has fixed in the heavens, to manifest his glory, 



THE PEESENT STATE OF ASTEONOMY. 145 

and to make known the unsearchable riches of 

his wisdom and his power? 

This most wondrous speculation seemed to 

be further confirmed by a multitude of facts. 

Among the nebulous stars, some were found, in 

which there was but a feeble concentration of 

light in the center of a luminous circle. In 

others the light was more developed ; and thus 

onward a series would be formed, by individuals 

properly selected, until finally a brilliant star 

shone in the center of its gauzy envelope. As 

our own sun is one of the fixed stars, it was 

natural to inquire what was its condition, — 

whether it exhibited any trace of this strange 

phenomenon which the telescope had revealed in 

the heavens. About the sun it had been long 

known that an extensive atmosphere existed ; 

but this was only analogous to the gaseous 

envelope of our earth and the other planets. 

A closer scrutiny of the sun detected a remarkable 

relation between this body and a faintly luminous 

appearance, long distinguished under the name 

of the Zodiacal light. This luminous beam, ever 

based upon the sun, and attendant upon its 
1 



14(5 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

annual apparent movement, is visible with pecu- 
liar distinctness at certain seasons of the year, 
extending in an elongated, elliptic form to a vast 
distance from the sun, reaching even beyond 
the limits of the orbit of the planet Yenus, and 
possibly to that of the Earth. Here, then, it 
seemed, was found, in actual existence, the re- 
mains of that primeval, nebulous globe from 
whence our sun had sprung, in the form of a 
Vast gaseous atmosphere of exceeding tenuity, 
revolving with the sun on its axis, and extended 
to its lenticular form by the centrifugal force 
due to rotation. Such, then, was the condition 
of this great problem, as left by Sir William 
Herschel ; and it was at this point that Laplace 
received it, and, by the force of his wonderful 
genius, extended the range of the speculation 
far beyond the limits imagined by its illustrious 
author. 

Any theory which would account for the fixed 
stars and for the formation of the sun, would be 
greatly strengthened if, at the same time, it 
could be made to explain the planets, satellites, 
and comets, and embrace within its scope the 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 147 

peculiar phenomenon presented in the organiza- 
tion of the solar system. Whence came the 
worlds which circle round the sun ? and whence 
the moons which subordinate themselves to the 
action of their central bodies ? and, above all, 
whence spring those anomalous bodies which 
occasionally visit our system, and, after a brief 
sojourn, again disappear in the invisible regions 
of the universe ? These questions had long 
been propounded in vain, and conjecture had 
been exhausted in its efforts to account for 
their origin. 

It was to explain these phenomena that La- 
place had recourse to the nebular theory of Sir 
William Herschel; and it is to the specific con- 
sideration of this subject I would now invite 
your attention. 

In the outset of this discussion we must 
clearly distinguish between those phenomena, 
for which the law of universal gravitation is 
responsible, and those other phenomena of the 
constitution of the solar system, in the explana- 
tion of which this law has never been employed. 
Gravitation explains why the planets, comets, 



148 THE COSMOGONY A3 REVEALED BY 

and satellites revolve in elliptical orbits, or in 
those curves known as conic sections, consisting 
of the circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola. 
Gravitation explains the unequal velocities of 
these bodies in their orbitual movements. It, 
in like manner, explains the multitudinous per- 
turbations suffered by all the members of the 
solar system, in consequence of their reciprocal 
action. In short, the system once organized as 
it now is, all its existent and daily occurring 
phenomena are susceptible of explanation and 
computation from the theory of universal gravi- 
tation. Here, however, the domain of this law 
is bounded, — or, at least, has hitherto been 
bounded. There remain a multitude of inquiries 
demanding answers, for which, however, gravi- 
tation has not been deemed accountable. For 
example, why do all the planets and satellites 
revolve in orbits so nearly circular ? So far as 
gravitation is concerned, they might as well 
have revolved in parabolas or hyperbolas. Why 
do all the planets circulate about the sun in the 
same direction? Gravitation would have held 
them, all the same, in case they had moved in 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRO NOMT. 149 

the opposite direction. How comes it that the 
planes of the planetary orbits are nearly coinci- 
dent? Gravitation renders no reply to this 
question, and is not responsible for the answer. 
Again, the planets all rotate on axes in the same 
direction in which they revolve in their orbits. 
The satellites follow these same analogies, and 
even the sun himself is, in like manner, found to 
rotate on his axis, in the general direction of the 
motion of his attendant satellites. While this 
astonishing harmony and uniformity prevail with 
reference to the planets and their satellites, a 
far different order of things exists among the 
comets. These bodies visit our system from 
every possible region of space, under all angles 
of inclination, and revolve in any one of the 
curves already mentioned, except the circle. 
They do not pass round the sun in the same 
direction as the other revolving bodies, techni- 
cally known as the direct motion ; but they 
exhibit as frequently the retrograde direction. 
Now, if this great scheme were formed by 
chance, and the planets and satellites had been 
projected in their orbits with forces of impulse 



150 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

and directions of motion solely determined by 
accident, there is not one chance in one hundred 
millions that the present organization would 
have been the result of such an origin. 

The question then arises, may all these com- 
plicated phenomena presented in the solar sys- 
tem, be reduced under the dominion of a single 
law? and if so, what is the hypothesis which 
yields a satisfactory explanation of these multi- 
tudinous and diversified phenomena ? 

Laplace has furnished us the approximate 
answer to this grand inquiry. I present a rapid 
exposition of the great outlines of this vast 
speculation. It is believed that at one time the 
sun was a vast nebulous globe, of a diameter so 
great as to comprehend within its limits the 
orbits of all the planets. At this period there 
were no planets in existence, and the matter of 
which these bodies and their satellites are com- 
posed was, at this period, a portion of the mass of 
matter constituting that body which we now call 
the sun. In the lapse of ages, the mighty diam- 
eter of this primitive, globular body, exceeding six 
thousand millions of miles, is supposed to have 



THE PRESENT STATE OE ASTRONOMY. 151 

slowly contracted, by the radiation of heat, into 
the regions of space. In case we admit the 
beginning of a rotation of the globular mass on 
an axis, the contraction of its dimensions must, 
by necessity, increase the velocity of rotation. 
If, then, the loss of caloric be ever continued, the 
contraction of the mass must be perpetuated, and 
the velocity of rotation will be ever increased, 
until a time will come when the centrifugal force, 
generated at the equator of the revolving mass, 
will preponderate over the force of gravity, and 
the particles of matter, thus acted upon in an 
equatorial zone, will be lifted up in a vast ring, 
and finally severed from the central mass. This 
cloudy, nebulous ring is then left in space, 
revolving on an axis coincident with that of the 
parent mass, and with a velocity exactly equal 
to that due to the central body at the moment 
it was disengaged. 

The ring of matter, thus detached and left to 
the action of gravitation on its various particles, 
would not retain its primitive form; but its 
particles, concentrating about some center of 
superior density, would eventually assume the 



152 TIIE COSMOGONY AS BEVEALED BY 

spherical form, and a planet would thus be 
formed. 

This globular body, in its primitive condition 
a vaporous mass, by a more rapid radiation of 
its heat would ultimately solidify, and present 
all the phenomena of the solid globe we inhabit. 
In case we examine the peculiarities of condi- 
tion of the imaginary planet thus formed, we 
shall find an astonishing similitude between it 
and those in actual existence. It must revolve 
in its orbit in the same direction in which the 
parent mass rotates. It must revolve in a plane 
nearly coincident with the equator of the central 
body. It must revolve in an orbit nearly cir- 
cular. It must rotate on its axis in the same 
direction in which it revolves in its orbit. In 
each of these particulars, then, it fulfills the 
existing conditions of nature. 

If now we follow the changes of the central 
rotating body, we shall find that the same causes 
which caused the evolution of the first ring of 
matter, must, in process of time, produce the 
same results again, and again, until a degree of 
condensation is reached bringing the powers of 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 153 

cohesive attraction to bear on the particles, and 
here all further disengagement of matter is for 
ever arrested. Condensation may continue, and 
an increase of rotatory velocity, but no more 
matter can be disengaged, because the attraction 
of gravitation is reenforced by the attraction of 
cohesion. 

The generation of a scheme of worlds, under 
the operation of such laws and from such mate- 
rial, would produce a system, imitating in all its 
grand features those existent in the present 
solar system. Especially is this true, in case 
we extend the hypothesis to the formation of 
satellites around the primary planets, by the 
same prooess, which in the outset gave birth to 
the primary from the sun itself. All the moving 
bodies thus formed will revolve and rotate in 
the same direction, and in this they must har- 
monize with the rotation of the sun. They must 
revolve in planes nearly coincident with the 
sun's equator, and in orbits nearly circular, while 
the moons or satellites must follow the same 
general law. 

Such, then, is the exhibition of this magnifi- 



154 THE COSMOGONY AS EEYEALED BY 

cent hypothesis. It can not be denied that it 
accounts for a multitude of phenomena hitherto 
inexplicable, and wonderfully expands our ideas 
of the majesty and grandeur of the wisdom of 
God. But it may justly be inquired, Is there 
any solid basis for this amazing superstructure ? 
Is it mere speculation ? or can any arguments or 
facts be adduced to give to it even the color of 
a reality ? 

We proceed to answer these inquiries. Are 
there now existent in the heavens any of these 
mighty nebulous globes, such as the sun is once 
supposed to have been ? The telescope has 
revealed a class of bodies, called planetary 
nebulae. They are in the region of the fixed 
stars, they have no sensible parallax, they have 
measurable diameters, are evenly shaded with 
light, and located at such stupendous distances, 
they swell to a magnitude almost incredible, in 
case we suppose them to be masses of vaporous 
or nebulous matter. Their diameters must even 
surpass the diameter of the orbit of Neptune, 
the most remote of all the solar planets, and the 
one first disengaged from the sun, in case no 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTEONOMY. 155 

exterior planet exists. We do not affirm posi- 
tively that these planetary nebulae are globular 
masses of nebulous matter. They, however, 
exhibit many of the characteristics of such 
globes, and admit of this explanation more read- 
ily than of any other of which I am aware. 

Again, in the heavens we find vast aggrega- 
tions of luminous haze, resembling in every par- 
ticular, chaotic, amorphous masses of nebulous 
matter. It can not, indeed, be positively asserted 
that any one of these masses shall never be con- 
verted, by telescopic reach, into stars, though it 
will be found, I think, at this time, that there 
are few distinguished astronomers who will deny 
that nebulous clouds do exist in the heavens. 
If, however, the actual existence of matter in 
this nebulous condition be essential to give a 
real basis to this theory, may we not find it 
abundantly exhibited in the trains of light which 
sometimes accompany comets, and which occa- 
sionally extend a hundred millions of miles. 
The rarity of these masses, is of the most sur- 
prising character. I have, on some occasions, 
examined the most minute, telescopic stars, and 



156 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

have received their light undimnied, though it 
had penetrated thousands and tens of thousands 
of miles of this cometary matter. 

We have/ then, actually existing and under 
our eye, the condition of matter required by the 
hypothesis, — and this is truly matter, and sub- 
ject to the laws of motion and gravitation, as has 
been abundantly shown from the computed 
movements and revolutions of these nebulous 
masses. Furthermore, the directions of the 
motion of comets, the planes of their orbits, their 
physical condition, and the curves in which they 
revolve, appear in a remarkable manner to lend 
plausibility to this theory. In case we admit 
the formation of our sun from a nebulous mass, 
we must extend the same theory to the stars, 
which are also suns ; and hence it will arise that 
in the concentration of matter into mighty globes, 
about certain centers of attraction, there will be 
fragments of matter occupying regions of space, 
in the interstices of these primordial globes, 
which will be long held in equilibrio by the 
united attraction of the masses by which they 
are surrounded. A time finally comes when a 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 157 



preponderance determines in favor of the attrac- 
tion of one sun above all others, and towards 
this one the nebulous mass slowly begins to 
move. An acceleration of motion follows every 
decrease of distance, till, finally, a strange body 
of portentous appearance invades the heavens, 
and we behold a comet descending perpendicu- 
larly, or with any obliquity to the ecliptic, and 
plunging apparently with incredible velocity into 
the sun. In case its direction of motion be not 
exactly to the sun's center, it will sweep round 
this body, and receding from the center, finally 
revisit the region of space from which it emana- 
ted. Thus we perceive that, in case this be the 
true origin of comets, they ought to visit us 
from every quarter of the heavens, their motions 
should be direct and retrograde, and their orbits 
ought to be elongated ellipses, or possibly hyper- 
bolas or parabolas. 

It may still be demanded, in case these pri- 
meval rings are the origin of the planets and 
satellites, why may not some single specimen 
yet remain as proof positive of this incredible 
hypothesis ? Here, again we are able to declare, 



158 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY " 

by the aid of the telescope, that these rings 
appear to exist. If it were possible to direct 
your vision to the planet Saturn, through a tube 
of superior power, you would behold an exhibi- 
tion of exquisite beauty. You would perceive 
a luminous globe of vast dimensions, belted with 
stripes, and exquisitely shaded from center to 
circumference ; but, more wonderful, you would 
behold, engirdling this planet, a broad and lus- 
trous ring of light, of oval figure, and exhibiting 
the most beautiful curvilinear outline. Here are 
two, possibly three, of the primitive rings, now 
existing in space, and separated from their pri- 
mary central planet. These rings are of great 
dimensions. The exterior diameter of the outer 
ling is nearly two hundred thousand, while the 
inner edge of the nearest ring is separated 
some twenty thousand miles from the body of 
Saturn. These rings are revolving with swift 
velocity, about an axis coincident with that of 
the planet, and in every particular corresponding 
to the hypothesis, that they were at some period 
far back in the history of time, disengaged by 
centrifugal force from the body of the planet, 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 159 

and left revolving in space. It is about Saturn 
especially that we might expect to find rings, if 
anywhere in the solar system. It is of vast 
dimensions ; its specific gravity is scarcely 
greater than that of cork; it has a multitude 
of satellites (no less than eight) revolving exte- 
rior to the rings, the nearest one approaching 
very closely to the surface of Saturn, and per- 
forming its revolution around that body in a few 
hours. The matter composing the rings must 
then have been greatly condensed (compara- 
tively) when severed from the planet, and 
would, if ever, retain its primitive form. The 
conditions of the equilibrium of these rings are 
of great complexity, and speaking as finite 
beings, it would seem utterly impossible that 
the rings could have been built and adjusted to 
the planet after its projection in space. It is 
true that, at the bidding of God, these stupen- 
dous circles of light could have started into 
being, and at the same command have taken up 
their present astonishing relations to the world 
they encircle. But this is contrary to the ana- 
logy of God's creative providence. The more we 



160 THE COSMOGONY AS 11 E V E A L E D BY 

study this astonishing organism, the more are 
we convinced that these appendages must have 
been evolved from the central orb by the action 
of some great law, effecting in their severance 
all the conditions of permanent equilibrium. I 
never behold this resplendent system without 
feelings of awe and admiration. When I reflect 
how delicately these stupendous arches are 
poised in the heavens, how slight a cause would 
destroy their stability, it seems possible that 
even under one's eye the balance may be lost, 
and the whole fabric rush into utter and hope- 
less ruin ! Indeed, so difficult is it to render a 
satisfactory account of the stability of these 
rings when regarded as solid (as they have 
been considered), that a distinguished American 
geometer has reached the conclusion by mathe- 
matical reasoning, that these rings are not solid 
but fluid, and that their particles are free to 
move among each other, that in this way the 
figures of the rings are for ever changing, sway- 
ing to and fro, like the ocean tides, to the action 
of the disturbing forces, which, if the rings were 
solid, might drag them from their orbits, and 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 161 

hurl them on the body of the planet, never again 
to be separated from it. We are riot yet quite 
prepared to adopt this startling view of the sys- 
tem, while the. facts announced show, beyond a 
doubt, the exceeding perplexity which hangs 
over this beautiful but enigmatical system. 

If now we return to the examination of the 
actual condition of the great center of our sys- 
tem, we do not find any fact which i>an weaken 
the testimony already adduced. On the con- 
trary, we are struck with the concurrent tes- 
timony presented by this central orb. Its stu- 
pendous magnitude is the first thing which 
strikes us ; its intense heat, so infinitely superior 
to that of any planet ; the lowness of its specific 
gravity, only one quarter as great as water ; the 
vast extent of the atmosphere by which it is 
surrounded, — all conspire in testimony to the 
possible truth of the nebular hypothesis. But, 
above all, we are struck with the wonderful fact 
of the slow and majestic rotation of the sun on 
his axis ! How astonishing is this ! Why 
should this mighty orb rotate ? We can see 
why the planets should revolve on their axes ; 



162 THE COSMOGONY AS EEVEALED BY 

we can understand why the earth we inhabit 
should successively present each of its faces to 
the sun. In this motion of rotation we perceive 
the ultimate cause of the vicissitudes of day and 
night, so necessary and so grateful to earth's 
inhabitants, and by analogy we may extend this 
same reasoning to the planets ; but nothing of a 
like character can carry our reasoning to the sun. 
Its gravitating power would be just as great 
without rotation ; its floods of light would be just 
as inexhaustible without rotation ; its vivifying 
heat would fructify the earth, and give life to 
the animal and vegetable world just as well 
without rotation. Every function of this mighty 
center would be just as perfectly performed in 
case it were absolutely fixed and immovable. 
We again ask in wonder, Why does the sun in 
twenty-eight days perform a complete revolution 
on its axis ? No answer can be given, unless 
we revert for explanation to the seemingly bold 
speculation we are discussing. Admit this 
strange theory, and all difficulty disappears; 
and in the rotation of the sun we find the ulti- 
mate cause of the admirable scheme of revolving 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 163 

worlds by which it is surrounded. The rotation 
on an axis, now, is but the necessary concomi- 
tant of this higher function of the sun. If this 
theory be false, in how many different ways 
might its falsehood have been made manifest. 
Suppose we had found the period of rotation of 
the sun on his axis to be longer than that of any 
one of the surrounding planets in his orbit : this 
would have falsified the theory. Suppose we 
had discovered that it required more time for 
Saturn or Jupiter to rotate on their axes, than 
for their nearest moon to revolve round them in 
its orbit : this would have falsified the theory. 
Suppose we had found any planet or satellite 
revolving slower than the one exterior to its 
orbit : this would have destroyed the theory. 
No one of these phenomena has been observed. 
On the contrary, there is an admirable harmony 
everywhere existent, and all concurring to. give 
the appearance of probability to this seemingly 
wild hypothesis. The sun, then, in all its phe- 
nomena, accords with the theory. We have 
already mentioned the phenomenon attendant on 
the sun, and called the Zodiacal light. This, as 



164 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

has been said, was conjectured to be an immense 
atmosphere surrounding the sun of uncondensed 
nebulous matter. A deeper penetration into the 
phenomena of the showers of meteors denomina- 
ted the shooting stars, seems to connect, in a 
definite manner, these exhibitions with the revo- 
lution of a vast nebulous ring, revolving in space, 
and at certain seasons approaching sufficiently 
near the earth's atmosphere, to detach fragments 
of its body, and to fire them by their swift velo- 
city through this comparatively dense resisting 
medium. Should this theory be adopted, we 
have among the primary planets a specimen of a 
primitive ring, still retaining its nebulous char- 
acter, and of such exceeding tenuity as scarcely 
to be visible except under the most favorable 
circumstances. 

Can it be possible, then, that the firm and 
solid globe we inhabit could ever have resembled 
so ethereal a body ? Was there ever a period 
in the past when the material of this earth con- 
stituted a vast nebulous ring ? Could this ring 
ever have been converted into a globular mass a 
half a million of miles in diameter ? May the 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 165 

moon that now floats in space, two hundred and 
forty thousand miles from the earth, ever have 
been a portion of its mass ? These are the mar- 
velous questions demanding an affirmative an- 
swer, in case we adopt the nebular hypothesis. 

When we examine the rocky crust of the 
earth, and perceive its density and solidity, we 
are almost disposed to doubt the possibility of 
its ever having been different. But we must 
not be governed too much by appearances. 
There is not a rock nor a metal, however solid, 
that heat will not dissipate into vapor. Even 
the diamond itself may, by heat, be made to 
float in the atmosphere. Indeed, the solids are 
only peculiar combinations of gases. Analyze 
the materials of the three great kingdoms of 
nature, and we reduce them all to gases. The 
waters of the ocean are composed of two gases; 
the rocks, mostly composed of gases ; the vege- 
tables principally composed of gases ; — in short, 
we know that one single gas, oxygen, constitutes 
nearly, if not quite one half, of the solid material 
of the earth now known to man. 

The rapid transitions of bodies from the gas- 



166 THE COSMOGONY ^S REVEALED BY 

eous form to the liquid, and from the liquid form 
to the solid, is too familiar to all to require more 
than a passing notice. Heat, then, is the all- 
powerful solvent of all organic matter, and by 
heat the solid earth itself may be again dis- 
solved ; and if so, why may we not believe that, 
by the same agent, its now solid materials once 
were held in solution, constituting the vaporous 
mass demanded by the nebular hypothesis. 

Here, then, we might rest the discussion of 
this subject, with the conclusion that enough has 
been said to demonstrate the possible, if not the 
probable truth of this (at first sight) impossible 
theory. But we must yet advance one step 
further, and present an argument which, when 
combined with all we have said, so cements the 
whole into one mass of concurrent evidence, 
that, until a better theory be advanced, it seems 
impossible longer to reject the nebular hypoth- 
esis. 

Within a short time a remarkable relation has 
been discovered to exist between the periods of 
rotation of the planets on their axes, and their 
masses, or quantities of matter and distances 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 167 

from each other combined. This relation is too 
technical to be stated here in mathematical lan- 
guage. We present the following popular expo- 
sition of the principle : If the quantity of matter 
contained in each of the three planets, Jupiter, 
Saturn, and Uranus, was accurately known, and 
their mean distances from the sun perfectly 
determined, then the principle of the new dis- 
covery would enable us, from these data, to 
compute or predict the exact time in which 
Saturn (the middle planet of the three) would 
revolve on its axis. 

The earth's period of rotation on its axis is 
then dependent on the quantity of matter in the 
planets Yenus and Mars, and upon the distances 
of the orbits of these planets from the orbit of 
the earth. This is perhaps one of the most 
astonishing facts ever revealed. That Mars and 
Venus should sway the earth in its orbitual 
motion, results necessarily from the law of unir 
versa! gravitation. But how, or in what way, 
these far-distant planets could ever have exerted 
the slightest influence in determining the period 
of the e_arth's rotation, is a mystery of mysteries, 



168 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

and but for the solution rendered by the nebular 
hypothesis, would seemingly remain an enigma 
for ever. 

At this moment we are absolutely certain that 
neither one nor the other of these planets exerts 
the smallest influence on the earth's period of 
rotation. It is uniform, and has been invariable 
for two thousand years, while these planets have 
taken up every possible position relative to the 
earth. If, then, the velocity of rotation of the 
earth ever was dependent on their action, as this 
discovery demonstrates, we must go very far 
back in the history of creation to learn how 
that primordial influence might have been ex- 
erted. The subject is difficult. Permit me to 
illustrate. Suppose we should find a piece of 
machinery, in which there were three hori- 
zontal wheels revolving on vertical axes, near 
each other but not in contact. We examine the 
motions of these three wheels, we measure their 
diameters, and we find that their periods of rota- 
tion are precisely such as they ought to have 
been, provided that they once were in contact, 
and that a motion given to one had by it been 






THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 169 

communicated to the others. This exact rela- 
tion existing, we should be strongly tempted to 
believe that the primordial state of these wheels 
was the contact of their circumferences, and 
hence arose the beautiful relation between their 
diameters and periods of rotation. 

This merely illustrates the idea of working 
backward from present relations to those which 
possibly existed at some distant period in the 
past history of the bodies related. Let us now 
come nearer to the case of nature. 

There is no one who may not have noticed 
the beautiful ring of steam which is occasionally 
ejected from the escape-pipe. It rises in the 
form of an annulus or ring, and floats sometimes 
for several seconds in the atmosphere. The par- 
ticles of this annulus and the matter of the 
entire ring itself, are all revolving in the plane 
of the ring. Now suppose two other such rings, 
the one interior, the other exterior to the one 
first imagined ; the three are now revolving, 
mutually affecting each other by actual contact 
of their particles upon their circumferences. 
Suppose these rings to contract by loss of heat, 



170 THE COSMOGONY AS REVEALED BY 

till finally they are severed from each other, and 
at last each breaks, its form condenses into a 
small globe, and three little planets are formed. 
Now the effect of their original condition of 
actual contact, can never be lost. Its impress is 
left, and possibly the rotations of these imagin- 
ary planets will have been so modified by such 
primitive contact as to remain, the perpetual 
evidences of this original, primordial condition. 

Such, then, seems to be the case with the 
planets of our system. In their primitive con- 
dition, as immense annuli of gaseous matter, 
their circumferences once were in physical con- 
tact. The quantity of matter in each, and their 
relative diameters, would determine the influ- 
ence that each would exert on the particles of 
the other. This influence has determined the 
periods of rotation, and these periods are now 
so related to the masses and distances of the 
interior and exterior planets, as to perpetuate 
for ever the astonishing evidence of their primi- 
tive condition. 

Doubtless much remains yet to be done to 
develop fully this and other matters of like 



THE PRESENT STATE OF ASTRONOMY. 171 

import bearing on this subject. But this much 
must be allowed, that the farther we advance, 
the deeper we penetrate the arcana of Nature, 
the more emphatically does it declare the proba- 
bility of the truth of the nebular cosmogony of 
the universe. 

If it should now be found that this theory 
coincides, as far as we can understand, with the 
Mosaic account of creation, we can safely pro- 
nounce that in this particular, in the present 
state of astronomical science, the revelations of 
Nature and of that book which professes to 
come from God, are not at variance. It is to 
the consideration of this subject we next invite 
your attention. 



LECTURE IV. 

THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF CREATION COMPARED WITH 

THE COSMOGONY OF THE UNIVERSE AS REVEALED 

IN THE ACTUAL CONDITION OF ASTRONOMY, 



LECTURE IV. 



THE COSMOGONY OF THE UNIVERSE AS REVEALED IN 
THE ACTUAL CONDITION OF ASTRONOMY". 

" In the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth." This is the sublime declaration 
of an historian whose writings are nearly a 
thousand years anterior to those of all others 
now in existence. It is the opening declaration 
of that wonderful volume which professes to have 
come from the ever-living God. It was recorded 
more than three thousand five hundred years 
ago. It was written at a time when darkness, 
deep, impenetrable, covered the nations of the 
earth, and at a time when from one extremity 
of the peopled globe to the other, no true knowl- 
edge of the universe prevailed. Read the lan- 
guage. Mark well the words. Observe their 
order of arrangement. "In the beginning." 
Not six or sixty thousand years ago; not six 
natural days prior to the creation of Adam ; not 



176 TH E MOSAIC ACCt D H 7 

on the first day of the earliest age. some millions 
of years backward, as the Hindoos assert : — but 
simply. — in the beginning. Mind, on the swiftest 
and strongest pinions of thought, may strive in 
vain to comprehend the meaning of that term. 
Who shall set limits and bounds to the creative 
energy of God ? Who shall say that, from all 
eternity up to within that point of time, six 
thousand years, no act of creation had been put 
forth by divine omnipotence ? Moses did not 
thus dare to circumscribe the powers of the 
Almighty. He declares that in the beginning, 
when in the wisdom of God creation was to 
begin, the fiat went forth, and God created the 
heavens and the earth. Jehovah is the agent in 
this grand drama of Nature. Whether a spirit- 
ual universe then existed, we know not: whether 
thrones, dominions, princedoms, virtues, poi 
the spiritual hierarchy of heaven, were then 
present to celebrate this new development of 
divine power, we know not : we are only told 
the work was God's exclusive, almighty effort. 
It was a creation. — a calling into being that 
which had not previously existed. It wus not 



OF CREATION. 177 

an organization of existent chaos. There was 
no chaos, so far as matter is concerned ; bound- 
less, interminable vacuity reigned throughout the 
empire of space. But a new era was to dawn. 
Material creation was now to commence. The 
beginning of time was attained. The on-going 
of eternity was interrupted, and an unknown 
display, grand, magnificent, unutterable, was 
now to be made to the angelic spirits, if such 
then existed. 

" God created the heavens and the earth/' 
Mark well the order. The more exalted and 
dignified takes rank. Not the earth and the 
heavens, but the heavens and the earth. And 
now what was this creation thus briefly but 
sublimely announced ? Was it indeed an instan- 
taneous peopling of space with the mighty 
globes that now move and shine ? Did space, 
on the instant, flame and blaze with myriads of 
glorious suns and revolving planets ? Were 
these wondrous orbs instantly projected into 
space, and taught to describe their amazing 
paths ? Was the solid earth, moulded in the 
Creators hand, launched upon its never ending 



178 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

career? All this is impossible. No such 
announcement is made ; and the very reverse 
of all this is true. The first grand act was the 
calling into being the matter, out of which and 
from which the heavens and the earth were 
to be fashioned and formed. It was the first, 
glorious, stupendous act of physical creation. 
It was bringing into being that which had not 
previously existed, the provision of inexhaust- 
ible material from which a universe was to be 
formed. 

This is abundantly demonstrated in the suc- 
ceeding declaration, in which we are told that 
the earth was without form, and void. How 
could this earth have been without form, if it 
had been already fashioned as a globe ? How 
could it be void, if its solid rocks already rubbed 
its sides, and its huge mountain ranges lifted 
their barriers to the clouds. The earth was 
without form, and void. The matter for its 
future formation existed, but as yet no fashion- 
ing had been accomplished,— all was without 
form. Primordial atoms filled the deep pro- 
found. God was the mighty center; Infinitude 



OF CREATION. 179 

alone could tell the boundary. " And darkness 
rested on the face of the great deep." What 
deep ? Not surely the ocean, for as yet there 
was none. It was the great deep of unfathom- 
able space ; a deep so profound that no line can 
fathom its profoundities, no eye but God's can 
penetrate its dark domain. 

Here, then, it would seem, is pictured forth, 
in language not to be misunderstood, a primitive 
form or condition of matter, a primordial exist- 
ence, anterior to sun, or planet, or blazing star. 
Darkness rested on the face of the great deep, 
and yet in the beginning God created the heav- 
ens and the earth. How, again I ask, can this 
be construed to mean the visible heavens, and 
existent earth, if darkness yet rested over the 
great deep ? Every expression is positive and 
absolute ; and whether there is revealed in the 
physical heavens or not, any evidence of the 
fact that matter once filled the capacious womb 
of space, in some existent condition, unclothed 
with any of its present attributes, this is assur- 
edly asserted, if we can read aright, by the 
sacred historian. 



180 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

Let it be further remarked, that the word 
here translated " created," is nowhere else em- 
ployed throughout this narrative. There was 
but one creation, and that was of matter, and in 
the beginning. From all which we draw the 
conclusion, that Moses asserts that the matter 
of which the existent physical universe is built, 
was once without form, and void, filling with its 
ultimate particles the boundless domain of space, 
while darkness covered the face of the great deep ! 

Such, then, is the first grand act in the drama 
of creation. Matter is now existent, but form- 
less, motionless, void, filling immensity, waiting 
the next high command from Him who called 
it into being. " And the Spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters." Then it was that 
matter first felt the vivifying power of God. 
We can not for one moment conceive that the 
waters of the ocean are here alluded to. It was 
the vast ocean of matter which filled the bound- 
aries of space. This fathomless, interminable 
ocean, without limit, without bounds, this it 
was on which the Spirit of God moved, and 
gave to each particle of matter its now eternal 



OF CREATION. 181 

function. Then first each particle of this vast 
unformed universe of matter felt and acknowl- 
edged the attractive power of every other ; uni- 
versal gravitation asserted its empire, and God's 
Spirit taught the ponderable particle the laws of 
motion. 

" And God said, Let there be light ; and 
there was light." How simple, how sublime, 
this stupendous declaration ! Well may the 
Greek have marked its power and recognized 
its grandeur. God uttered the command, and 
quicker than thought the light-giving principle, 
the law of production and propagation of this 
great mystery, fills the universe of space. Struck 
by the moving atoms, its billows heaved in gen- 
tle undulations, and borne on its crested billow, 
light yet struggling in gloom spread feebly 
through the abyss of space. 

The mighty reservoirs of light, which now 
flame on high, did not exist. There was as yet 
no sun to flood with light the boundless regions 
of his domain; the stars were not; and yet 
without these, " God said, Let there be light, 
and there was light." 



182 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

Now, if this book be an imposture, a cun- 
ningly-devised fable, how marvelously has it 
been devised. How utterly irreconcilable with 
all the apparent phenomena of nature, to pro- 
claim the creation of light prior to the formation 
of sun or star. Why was this ? How can it be 
accounted for, if we suppose the description to 
have originated with mere man. Moses was 
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 
He was a poet, a legislator, a philosopher. 
How, then, was he induced to put forth a sys-? 
tern of creation so utterly at war with the out- 
ward., palpable appearances of nature. 

This same subject has perplexed the wisest 
commentators. Some, like Milton, have had 
recourse to an extraordinary fiction. 

* * * And forthwith light 
Sprung from the deep, and from her native east, 
To journey through the airy gloom began, 
Sphered in a radiant cloud. * * * 

By this wonderful device, of which Moses says 
nothing, light is made to journey from east to 
west, and thus produce the change of day and 



OF CREATION. 183 

night. I can not but feel such an hypothesis to 
be not only unnecessary, but degrading. For 
what purpose should light now be throned in 
" a radiant cloud ?" to take up a journey about 
a non-existent earth ? to produce an evening 
and morning, when the evening and morning 
now marked by men could have had no being. 
Are we not led to higher thoughts by this 
sublime announcement ? We know not what 
light is. Thus far God has chosen to con- 
ceal the character of this grand effect. One 
thing, however, seems to be certain. There 
exists throughout all space a medium or elastic 
fluid, imponderable, intangible, whose undula- 
tions, excited by certain bodies, produce the 
phenomenon of light. At the command of God, 
" Let there be light," this ethereal fluid filled 
the universe, and between it and the particles 
of matter a law of rotation was instantly estab- 
lished, by which the faint dawn of the morn- 
ing of time broke upon the universe. It was 
the beginning of a great day, one of the mighty 
days of eternity, — a day which has grown 
brighter through all past revolving ages, — a day 



184 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

that can only end when God shall bid the physi- 
cal universe depart, and all shall be spirit again ! 
In this dim portraiture of Moses, we perceive 
a strange accordance with the order of creation, 
as derived from our preceding investigation. 
After the creation of matter, and the enactment 
of the great laws of motion and gravitation, the 
production of light should follow next, in the 
grand progressive movement. But let us not 
here mingle cause and effect. It was because 
God commanded, that light was. Light would 
not have followed as a consequence of the con- 
densation of matter, for there would then have 
been no vehicle for its transmission ; and there- 
fore there could have been no light. For its 
production, two things are required, — the elastic 
medium, and bodies to set this medium in 
motion with the required velocity of undulation. 
All matter does not possess the power of caus- 
ing the elastic medium to undulate with such 
velocity as to produce light to the human eye. 
For its use a very restricted limit of vibration is 
required. For some eyes this limit may be 
extended, for others it may be contracted. But 



OF CREATION. 185 

the grand principle God called into being, when 
he said, " Let there be light." 

The severance between light and darkness is 
far more absolute than is apparent from a casual 
examination. The laws of vibration of the 
elastic medium, by whose undulations light is 
either formed or propagated, must fall within 
very restricted limits ; hence, by the enactment 
of these laws of action, God separated most 
emphatically between light and darkness. We 
are moreover informed that " God saw the light 
that it was good ;" the laws established were 
perfect; this medium by which the existence of 
the physical universe was to be revealed to intel- 
ligent beings, had already commenced its flight 
through space. The result was in accordance 
with the will of the Divine Architect, the end 
was accomplished, perfection reigned. 

And now we are told, " God called the light 
Day, and darkness he called Night." The intro- 
duction of this passage, in so grand and sublime 
a description, occasions some degree of perplex- 
ity. At the time this naming of day and night 
took place there was neither the one nor the 






186 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

other. There was no sun, and no earth ; and if 
any naming actually took place, it could only 
have been in anticipation. If we might be per- 
mitted slightv to paraphrase the passage, its 
accordance with the statements with which ifc 
stands connected, would be complete, while an 
appropriateness is at once evident for such an 
additional explanation. Had the passage been 
written, And God called the light what tvc call 
Day, and the darkness what tve call Night, then 
it becomes a simple explanation of the meaning 
of the terms, light and darkness, and all perplex- 
ity is removed. 

This closes the account of the first grand 
epoch in creation. Matter was called into being, 
the laws of gravitation and motion were estab- 
lished, and functions of all the varying particles 
of matter had been assigned. The vast and 
incomprehensible machinery for the production 
and propagation of light was finished; light 
itself had sped at the bidding of God from the 
center to the circumference ; all was perfect ; — 
and here closes the first great period. The 
evening and the morning, the beginning and the 



OF CREATION. 187 

ending, the night of ancient vacuity was closed, 
and the morning of a new creation had dawned ; 
the first day, the primary period of time was 
now complete. 

Such, at least, is the interpretation which is 
possible. Great perplexity has arisen from the 
use of the word day in this connection. If we 
understand by the term day a period of twenty- 
four hours, such as now exist, the statement of 
Moses is perfectly inexplicable. The writer 
knew as well as we do, that a day, — a natural 
day, — is produced by the ajyparent revolution of 
the sun about the earth. This is a matter of 
vulgar observation ; and he could never have 
so far lost sight of the possibility of his account 
of this wonderful event, the creation of a uni- 
verse, as to speak of the natural evening and 
mcrning constituting a literal day, to terminate 
the work of God, when there was no possible 
means by which a day could be produced. The 
word translated Day, can not, then, as here 
employed, mean a period of twenty-four hours. 
Indeed, we are informed, in the Second Chapter 
of Genesis, that "these are the generation of the 



188 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

heavens and of the earth, when they were cre- 
ated, in the day that the Lord God made the 
earth and the heavens.' ' Here it seems to be 
announced that the work was finished in one 
day, as the same word is used in the singular. 
We are compelled, then, to believe that the 
word translated day, is a mere expression of a 
period of time of indefinite duration, and may 
extend to millions of years. This usage accords 
well with the customs of all ancient nations in 
the varied application of terms designating peri- 
ods of time. "We find a like latitude among the 
Hindoos, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, adopt- 
ed by the Greeks, and copied by the Romans. 
The Egyptian Zaros seems to have had several 
distinct applications to periods of time, of differ- 
ent values. So, also, the use of the word, 
"year," in Latin " annus," a ring, a circle, or 
revolution, has been extended among the ancient 
nations to all possible periods of time. It is not 
then at all surprising, that an indefinite period 
of time should have been designated by Moses 
under the word translated, day. There is an 
objection urged against this interpretation and 



OF CREATION. 189 

use, growing out of the enactment of the Sab- 
bath, which we will consider more at length 
before closing this examination. We now pro- 
ceed to consider the Mosaic account of the sec- 
ond grand period in the creation. 

" And God said, Let there be a firmament in 
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the 
waters from the waters. And God made the 
firmament, and divided the waters which were 
under the firmament from the waters which 
were above the firmament ; and it was so." In 
this passage we find the effect of imperfect 
knowledge of nature upon the minds of the truly 
great and learned men to whom we are indebted 
for our received translation. The old idea of a 
firmamentum, a something solid, like the crystal, 
transparent spheres of the ancients, clung to the 
human mind long after the absurdity was ex- 
ploded in the minds of a few philosophers. The 
word translated " firmament," means, as is well 
known, an extension, an expanse, a sort of sev- 
erance or vacuity, rather than any thing solid 
or firm ; and in this sense, of course, we must 
consider it. Again, the word translated " waters" 



190 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

can not in any way refer to seas, oceans, and 
rivers on the earth, and to clouds and mist which 
float in the atmosphere above the earth. There 
were no waters such as now exist, and no earth 
such as we now inhabit. How, then, are we to 
understand this announcement of the work 
accomplished by the Almighty Architect during 
this second period of creation ? Suppose it had 
been written, " And God said, Let concentration 
of matter now proceed, — let the boundless ocean 
of material vapor divide and separate, — let vacu- 
ity intervene between the mighty masses which 
shall aggregate and segregate about their ap- 
pointed centers, — and let this expanse be divided 
between the masses which shall lie above the 
expanse and those which lie beneath it," — this 
would have been in so many words a description 
of the mighty processes which must have distin- 
guished the period which immediately followed 
that one during which matter was created and 
the laws of matter established. At the bidding 
of God, under the controlling power of those 
laws by which He is pleased to manifest His 
divine will, and around centers of His own selec- 



OF CREATION. 193 

tion, the germs of future worlds were now begin- 
ning to form. Previously matter had been dif- 
fused like a boundless atmosphere, a material 
mist filling all space. Now aggregation begins 
and proceeds, severing this infinite nebulous 
mass into definite portions, an expanse divides 
these aggregations, concentration proceeds, and 
we perceive that an entire day, a vast period 
comparable with that which elapsed during the 
enactment of the first great act, rolls away 
while the work of separation and segregation 
proceeds. 

Here was truly a grand and magnificent work. 
The selection of the great centers of aggregation 
was the work of Omniscience. These must bo 
so located that the forming worlds shall in no 
degree interfere with each other. They must 
be so selected that in the development of the 
mighty systems to be brought into being, there 
should be space commensurate with the grand 
movements which were to be evolved. Matter 
was not left to itself. God was in all and over 
all; His wisdom sketched the mighty plan of 
creation on a scale commensurate with the glory 



192 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

and majesty and grandeur of His divine perfec- 
tions. 

Let us now examine the condition of the uni- 
verse at the close of the second great epoch. If 
the division was perfected, in multitudes of 
instances at least we may conceive that the con- 
densation had proceeded not only sufficiently far 
to produce vast globular bodies, but that these 
globes had condensed, and in the act of contrac- 
tion and condensation, the planetary bodies may 
have been disengaged from their equatorial 
regions. There were then huge central masses 
of nebulous matter, slowly rotating on their 
axes, about these revolved hazy rings of matter, 
or possibly the crude forms of imperfectly con- 
densed planets. Light was more condensed, 
and the grand centers of illumination were grad- 
ually increasing in power. 

We are thus prepared, by the now nearly 
perfected operations, having this division and 
concentration of matter for their object, for the 
ushering in of a new and wonderful era in crea- 
tion. The evening and the morning closed the 
second day. 



OF CREATION. 193 

With the opening of the third epoch we are 
introduced to the definite organization of the 
planetary worlds, and especially of our own 
earth. Its globular form had already been 
moulded. " And God said, Let the waters under 
the heaven be gathered together into one place, 
and let the dry land appear; and it was so." 
The boundless ocean, without limit and without 
shore, which had hitherto enveloped the earth, 
and the dense and misty vaporous atmosphere, 
retreated within narrower bounds; upheavals 
reared the mighty continent ; and the chains of 
lofty mountains and the ocean's bed were formed; 
and the decree went forth, " Hitherto shalt thou 
come, but no farther ; and here shall thy proud 
waves be stayed." 

How far like processes may have advanced 
in other planets of our own or other systems, 
it is useless to conjecture. Doubtless infinite 
variety marks the universe of God ; and the 
phenomena with which we are familiar may or 
may not characterize the numberless worlds 
which people space. The great work was 
advancing; each step in this advance distinctly 



194 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

leading to the accomplishment of the final grand 
object, — the preparation of a fit abode for sen- 
tient beings. Thus far God had exerted His 
power in the operation of mighty laws over 
insensate matter. All was completed, and "God 
said, Let the earth bring forth ;" and, lo ! life, 
mysterious, incomprehensible principle, In its 
earliest, primitive manifestation, burst upon the 
universe. Earth's teeming womb heaved, and 
up sprang the waving grass, the tender flower, 
the shoot, the shrub, the tree. Earth, enrobed 
in her glorious livery, shook her ten thousand 
leaves, flashed back the golden hue of fruit and 
flower, breathed the incense of her spicy groves, 
in grateful offerings to the living God. 

Such is the record. So Moses hath written, 
that on the third day, before the sun was, God 
commanded the earth to bring forth, and grass, 
and herb, and tree, each yielding seed in its 
kind, covered the earth's surface. Here three 
inquiries present themselves. First, does the 
order of geological strata concur with the nebu- 
lar theory ? Do the fossil remains of vegetables 
occupy a location consistent with their an- 



OF CREATION. 195 

nounced primitive creation? and, finally, how 
are we to account for the existence of vegetable 
life while there is no sun. 

It is not my intention, as it is not my pro- 
vince, to enter into a detailed discussion of each 
of these questions. If we assign to our globe 
a nebulous origin, its solidification would be the 
consequence of radiation of heat. A cooling 
down of the exterior would allow the gradual 
approach of the particles, until, finally, chemical 
laws begin their action, crystallization follows, 
and certain forms of the granitic rocks are pro- 
duced. It is enough that eminent geologists 
have advocated that the great phenomena of 
the primitive formations not only possibly, but 
probably, agree with the hypothesis of igneous 
origin. 

What, then, is the testimony with regard to 
the first forms of organic life on earth? The 
most than can be derived from the explorations 
of geology, is the conclusion that the introduction 
of animal and vegetable life was contempora- 
neous. This is but negative testimony, and only 
demonstrates the fact, that no vegetable remains 



196 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

have been preserved which grew prior to the 
introduction of animal life on earth. The record, 
then, is left unbroken, and it yet remains to be 
seen whether the more profound researches in 
progress may not, at some future period, upturn 
the rocky remains of the primeval vegetation, 
revealed in the Mosaic record. 

The third inquiry is kindred to some already 
entertained. How could vegetable life exist 
upon the earth, when as yet there was no sun to 
fructify and animate the world ? I again urge 
that the objection against the truth of this 
record, grounded on these facts, proves too much. 
It was quite as well known to Moses three thou- 
sand five hundred years ago, as to ourselves, that 
without the light and heat of the sun no vegeta- 
tion can exist, and in case the writer had been 
composing a theory of creation, merely from his 
own human investigation and research, he never 
would have committed so gross a blunder as to 
people earth with fruit and flower, before he had 
first formed and fashioned the great central 
source of all life, and light, and heat. 

There is a deeper meaning in this narrative, 



O F ' C K E A T I O N . 197 '. 

and in case we admit the nebulous origin of our 
planet, and the order of development incident to 
this hypothesis, we perceive at once that all 
difficulty vanishes with reference to the susten- 
tation of animal and vegetable life, previous to 
the fourth grand era, when the sun, and moon, 
and stars, were to burst forth in all their magnifi- 
cence and beauty. 

There was light in abundance though the 
great source of light was as yet vailed in a 
misty shroud which no eye could have pierced 
had eye then existed. 

The uncondensed and unlimited atmospheric 
envelope, which in the third grand epoch, 
enshrouded sun and moon, and hid the forming 
stars, did not forbid the penetration of light and 
heat. Besides, the central heat of our globe in 
itself, formed in the primitive ages a source of 
vegetable activity when God had once called 
vegetation into existence, which must have 
stimulated the primeval forests to the most 
vigorous and luxurious development. Such, 
indeed, is the fact, and hence we find species of 
gigantic dimensions among the ruins of those 



198 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

early ages, whose existing types are so diminu- 
tive as scarcely to be recognized of the same 
family. 

Thus it would seem that in this third grand 
era, the order of creation is in strict accord- 
ance with the determinate truths of science, and 
are only to be explained and rendered intel- 
ligible, by resort to the theory of the nebulous 
origin of our planet. 

It should ever be borne carefully in mind, tha f 
all we have said is but an attempted interpreta- 
tion. This may be entirely wrong and utterly 
false, while the Mosaic record shall remain etep 
nal as truth itself. We interpret by the light 
of existent science. What new beams may be 
hereafter kindled no one will venture to predict, 
and what wonderful modifications of interpreta- 
tion may be presented in the light of these new 
fires, it is equally impossible to divine. 

We have now reached the fourth grand epoch 
in the formation of the universe. " And God 
said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the 
heavens to divide the day from the night, and let 
them be for signs and for seasons, and for days 



OF C ft E A T I O X . 1U9 

and for years ; and let them be for lights in the 
firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the 
earth, and it was so. And God made two great 
lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the 
lesser light to rule the night ; He made the stars 
also ; and God set them in the firmament of the 
heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule 
over the day and over the night, and to divide 
the light from the darkness, and God saw that it 
was good." 

We have already adverted to our explanation 
of the prominent fact proclaimed in this passage. 
The formation of the sun, moon, and planets, 
on the fourth day of creation. In case we 
admit the origin proposed in our foregoing 
examinations, we will readily understand that 
many ages would roll away, even after the com- 
menced formation of the solar system, before the 
sun, or moon, or stars, would either hold their 
present form or exhibit their present appearance. 
Moses was not commissioned to reveal the details 
of scientific truth, but simply to present the 
grand outlines and order of progressive creation 
or development. He declares then simply that 



200 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

before the sun, and moon, and stars, as they now 
exist were formed, certain antecedent events 
had occurre-d. These were the creation of 
matter ; the enactment of physical laws ; the 
generation of light ; the formation of an expanse, 
by the aggregation of matter, around appointed 
centers ; the final consolidation of our earth ; 
the emergence of its lands and continents from 
the primeval seas; the clothing of earth with 
vegetable life. Such are the facts announced as 
existent prior to the formation of the sun, moon, 
and stars, as we now see them. We interpret, 
moreover, Moses to say, that three vast periods 
of time, denominated " days," had already passed 
away, and now the question arises, may all these 
events have preceded the present physical con- 
stitution of sun, moon, and stars. We are dis- 
posed to answer this question in the affirmative 
and without hesitation, and even to assert that 
this is the precise order of nature, in case the 
nebular theory be the true cosmogony of the 
universe. 

It is useless to go into extensive details after 
what we have already said ; I will remark, how- 



OF CREATION. 20J 

ever, that our earth is one of the smallest of all 
the planets. It was thrown from the sun's 
equator a long time after the outer planets, and 
at a time when a comparative condensation of 
the sun's matter had been reached. Being 
small, it would lose its caloric with great rapidity, 
and would cool down far more rapidly than the 
larger planets, and almost infinitely faster than 
the sun. It would, therefore, become a fit 
theater for vegetable existence, long before the 
sun would lose its nebulosity, a part of which 
even yet remains, and long before its own atmos- 
phere had become sufficiently translucent to 
permit the sun, or moon, or stars, to be seen, 
even had they existed in their present well- 
defined and brilliant forms. 

We perceive, therefore, that it was not until 
all the events above narrated had occurred, 
that it could be said that God placed two great 
lights in the firmament to rule the day, and to 
divide between the day and the night, and to be 
for signs and for seasons and for days and for 
years. Previous to this period, they could have 

served none of these ends ; they were not great 

9* 



202 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

lights any more than they now are when our 
atmosphere, dense with vapor, renders them 
invisible ; they did not divide distinctly between 
the day and the night ; no one could have dis- 
tinguished, at the first opening of human eye on 
the then existent world, whether it was day or 
night ; a dim, nebulous haze pervaded the earth, 
— a sort of luminous fog, such as now visits us, 
and renders it impossible to distinguish the 
light of a concealed moon from the coming of 
day. There was no sunrise visibly distinct, even 
if mortal eye had existed to see it. There was, 
in like manner, no sunset. Day and night, 
though severed, were not separable. They 
were intermingled ; it was, or would have been, 
impossible for us to have pronounced where the 
one ended and the other commenced. But this 
condition of things had now reached its termina- 
tion. The atmosphere had been gradually be- 
coming transparent ; the sun had been condens- 
ing; the moon had, in like manner, gradually 
assumed her definite outlines ; and, finally, a 
purity of the ethereal regions and of the earth's 
atmosphere was gained, — such that two great 



OF CREATION. 203 

lights shone forth in the heavens, to divide the 
day from the night, and the stars also glittered 
in the blue vault. 

Previous to this condition of nature, neither 
the sun, moon, nor stars could be said to give 
their light upon the earth as they now give it. 
More especially was it impossible for these 
celestial orbs to fill for man one great end of 
their being and organization. Mark well the 
language : — They were given for signs and for 
seasons, and for days and for years. They were 
to give their light upon the earth. Previous to 
this epoch they could neither be for signs nor 
seasons, nor for days, nor months, nor years; 
they could not give their light on the earth in 
the individual, specific sense in which it is now 
given. 

There are those who find in this narrative of 
the formation of sun, moon, and stars, and the 
appointment of their functions with reference to 
our earth, an extravagant prominence of so 
small a planet as our earth, and a sort of degra- 
dation of these great celestial orbs, in making 
them in any sense tributary to the earth. But 



1204 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

if any one will attempt to modify the record of 
Moses, so as to avoid any appearance of subordi- 
nation of the sun. moon, and stars to the earth, 
and yet to retain a distinct statement of the 
uses of these celestial orbs, the task will be 
found far more difficult than it appears at first 
view. Let it be remembered that no distinct 
revelation of astronomical facts was intended. 
Moses was not to declare the relative magnitude 
of the sun and moon, and earth and stars ; he 
was not to reveal the functions of these bodies 
with reference to other planets : it was only in 
relation to the earth that their characteristics 
were to be presented. These bodies do sustain 
the very relations to the earth announced by 
Moses. The sun and moon are two great lights, 
which rule over the day and the night, and the 
stars shed their light upon the earth. Let us 
go back in imagination to the condition of things 
during the preceding eras in the earth's history. 
Let us people the earth with intelligent beings. 
organized like ourselves, at the time when 
neither sun. nor moon, nor stars were visible. — ' 
when there was no distinct separation between 



OF CREATION. 205 

day and night, — when the impenetrable atmos- 
pheric veil, like the present clouds of earth, shut 
out forever the sun, moon, and stars. What 
would have been man's condition on such an 
earth ? The climate might have been never so 
pure and genial; perpetual spring might have 
spread its beauties over the virgin earth ; fruit, 
and flower, and the ripened corn and the clus- 
tering grape might have wooed the hand of man ; 
the earth might have spread upon her surface 
every thing to enchant the eye, or gratify the 
taste, or satiate the appetite, and yet man would 
have lived in a dimly-illumined prison. The 
earth alone would have been his universe. How 
could he have risen to any knowledge of the 
glories of God? Gould he ever have surmised 
even the actual condition of the planet he inhab- 
ited ? All would have been a twilight far more 
deep and sombre to his intellect than that natu- 
ral gloom which surrounded his physical frame. 
How w r onderful would have been the change to 
such inhabitants of earth, when the sun burst 
forth for the first time and flooded the earth 
with light ! when the moon, throned among he* 



208 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

shining stars, assumed her reign over the dewy 
night ! when days and months, and seasons and 
years began to mark the on-going of time ! 
How wonderful a change would this have been, 
and yet God appointed these specific functions 
to these mighty orbs, and neither more nor less 
is asserted by Moses. 

It is not asserted that the sun and moon and 
stars were formed for no other purpose than to 
give light to the earth. God set them in the 
firmament, in the expanse, in space, in such 
positions as to yield their light in quantities 
adapted to the wants of earth. Their distances 
were accurately adjusted, they were firmly set 
in the heavens, so that no derangement could 
ever occur to deprive the earth of its supply of 
light, or to flood it with an insufferable blaze. 

It is not my province to follow further in 
detail the order of creation. I have now closed 
an examination of so much of the Mosaic account 
as belongs specifically to the science of Astron- 
omy. On the fifth day we are informed that 
the waters were commanded "to bring forth 
abundantly every moving creature that hath life, 



OF ORE ATI OK. 207 

and the fowl that may fly above the earth.' 7 
On the sixth day the earth was commanded to 
bring forth " the lining creature after his kind, 
cattle and creeping thing, and every beast of the 
earth after his kind, and it was so ;" and, finally, 
after the earth had been clothed with vegetation, 
after the ocean teemed with its inhabitants, after 
bird and beast peopled the earth, " (rod said, 
Let us make man in our own image, after our 
own likeness." 

Man, then, according to the account of Moses, 
was only placed upon the earth after all inferior 
races had been formed. On the third day, or 
during the third great period, vegetation was 
brought into being; on the fourth, the sun, 
moon, and stars broke through the misty shroud 
that had previously enveloped them ; on the 
fifth day the ocean and air were peopled with 
their tribes; on the sixth, earth teemed with 
its flocks and herds; and, finally, man was 
formed, and God breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, and he became a living soul. 

Such is the order of creation in the heavens 
and on the earth, announced by Moses, — such 



208 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

the multitude of facts asserted in this primitive 
record, — such the extended outline, vulnerable 
by science at every point, but as yet entirely 
unbroken in its whole extent. " Thus the 
heavens and the earth vrere finished, and all the 
host of them." Earth was peopled with its mul- 
titudinous tribes, and space floated with the 
millions of shining orbs which were henceforth 
to declare the glory of God. The mighty work 
was ended, and Jehovah rested from His work 
on the seventh day. As in the work of creation 
six epochs had been employed, and as God had 
rested from His work on the commencement of 
the seventh, so time was now divided, by divine 
appointment, into weeks of seven days, six of 
which man should devote to labor and industry, 
and the seventh to rest and the worship of the 
one only God. 

That the period of time denominated a week 
is of exceedingly antique origin, is manifest from 
the fact that its use is found among all the primi- 
tive nations of the earth. The Egyptians, Baby- 
lonians, Persians, Hindoos, Chinese, Arabians, 
all employed this arbitrary division of time. 



OF CREATION. 209 

Nations scattered over the surface of the earth, 
widely separated and without intercourse, have 
adopted the same, conventionally demonstrating 
that it must have descended to each from some 
common origin. 

I do not perceive, then, that a valid objection 
can be urged against the long periods by which 
the word " day" is interpreted, in consequence 
of the institution of the sabbath. 

I place myself in the attitude of one disposed 
to cavil at the claims of the Bible, and when I 
see so curious, so unexpected, so astonishing a 
parallelism between the facts of the Mosaic 
record and those which are evolved on the 
present most probable scientific hypotheses; 
when I reflect that the division of time now in 
use is to be traced back to a period far beyond 
the reach of history, I do not feel that an inter- 
pretation, which has about it so much the air of 
truth and probability, can be shaken by an 
objection based upon the institution of the sab- 
bath of rest. 

Let us look for some higher, some more posi- 
tive proof of the human origin of this strange 



210 THE MOSAIC ACCOUNT 

book. Surely, if it be the composition of mere 
man, and of many men, we shall find it deficient 
in some department of science. For the pres- 
ent, then, let us abandon this objection, in case 
more powerful ones can be urged, and should we 
find this to be the only one, we may abandon it 
with the greater safety. 

Such is the exposition and interpretation 
which we are disposed to put upon this Scrip- 
tural account, of the great operation of creation. 
It may be defective, it may be even radically 
wrong. The nebular hypothesis itself may be 
superseded by some other theory entirely dif- 
ferent, when more light shall be shed upon this 
account, and its truth or falsehood may be for- 
ever irrevocably fixed. What may come we 
know not, until science shall reveal a true cos- 
mogony ; until science shall have fixed on a basis 
of truth strong and immovable her assertions 
with reference to this great event, a final posi- 
tive investigation will be impossible. This 
entire account must be viewed in the light of a 
prophetic declaration, which, unfulfilled, no one 
can with certainty interpret, but the moment thp 



OF CKEATION. 2 I i 

accomplishment has taken place, then a blaze of 
light is thrown upon every line of the prophetic 
announcement, and it is all instinct with light 
and truth. Such, doubtless, will be the case 
with reference to the Mosaic account of creation. 
If it be the dictation of the ever-living God, then 
in His own time He will permit the human mind 
to rise higher and still higher in its researches 
in the universe, until, God aiding, it shall reach, 
by its own struggles, to the knowledge of the 
plan by which this world we inhabit, these 
planets that roll and shine, and yonder sun, 
luminiferous and resplendent with all the host 
of Heaven, were brought to people the unlimited 
regions of vacuity. 

In the mean time, let us bring to the test of 
exact scientific examination those passages 
which may be scattered through this volume, 
and learn the result of this critical scrutiny. 



LECTURE V. 

AN EXAMINATION OF THE ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 
IN THE BOOK OF JOB 



LECTURE V. 

AN examination of the astronomical allusions in 

THE BOOK OF JOB. 

The authorship of this remarkable book seems 
not to be clearly settled. All are, however, 
agreed in assigning to it the highest antiquity. 
Although the incidents recorded are of the most 
astonishing character, its claims to its place in 
the sacred canon remains undisputed. With a 
short introduction in prose, and a still shorter 
close, this book is a poem of the highest order. 
We are not, however, concerned with its poetry, 
or with the style or nature of the composition ; 
we are not called upon to discuss its beautiful 
imagery or its exquisite language ; — it is only in 
its incidental and wonderful use of certain grand 
phenomena of nature that we claim a special 
interest. A controversy between Job and his 
three friends occupies a large proportion of the 
poem ; the arguments are finally summed up by 



216 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

a fifth individual, Elihu, when Jehovah's voice 
is heard out of the whirlwind pronouncing judg- 
ment. 

It is within the limits of this part of the poem 
that we find a series of questions propounded, 
having for their specific object the utter over- 
throw and humiliation of the feeble judgment of 
man. When we consider the age in which this 
book must have been composed, and the utter 
impossibility that any knowledge of the true 
system of the universe then obtained, we shall 
be compelled to acknowledge the exceeding dif- 
ficulty of propounding, at that early day, any 
series of astronomical inquiries which could be 
put, at the present day, with equal certainty of 
accomplishing the object designed by these inter- 
rogatories. 

This may not be so readily granted by some : 
first, because they may contend for a very high 
state of intelligence among the primitive nations 
in astronomical science ; and, second, because it 
may be by some asserted that it is by no 
means difficult for the ignorant to propound 
queries which the wise can not answer. 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 217 

I have examined with some care the attain- 
ments of the early nations in astronomy. Al- 
most nothing has come down to us directly from 
the primitive nations ; but as the Greek philos- 
ophers traveled extensively among the Egyp- 
tians, the Babylonians, and Hindoos, we may 
confidently assert that little important knowl- 
edge could have been concealed from these 
earnest and devoted seekers after knowledge. 

Should we even admit the claims to authen- 
ticity of the most remote observations even upon 
the heliacal rising of the stars upon eclipses, and 
upon the conjunctions which are contended for 
by the most ardent devotees to the antique in 
science, we shall scarcely go back, in any ono 
of these simple astronomical observations, to the 
age in which this poem was composed. It bears 
within it evidence (as we shall presently see) 
of high antiquity. If, then, the Greek philos- 
ophers could draw almost nothing from these 
imagined treasures of early knowledge, — if the 
crude notions and reasonings of Pythagoras are 
fair specimens of the ideas entertained by the 

primitive nations among whom he studied, we 

10 



218 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

certainly can not claim any real knowledge of 
the true system of the universe for so high an 
antiquity. We do not think it possible that any 
such knowledge could have been lost, if ever 
reached by any of the ancient nations. The 
Hindoos claim, in common with the Egyptians 
and Babylonians, a very high antiquity. These 
claims we propose to consider hereafter. While 
they urge these claims to be of high antiquity, one 
thing is certain, they urge no claims to superior 
knowledge of the system of nature. The very 
crudest notions were entertained with reference 
to the most striking phenomena, and a manifest 
ignorance prevailed with reference to their true 
cause and interpretation. 

It is, I think, impossible, then, to affirm that, 
in the age to which we must assign the composi- 
' tion of this poem, any such knowledge of the 
order, and laws, and phenomena of nature, and 
of our system, prevailed as would have served 
to guide him who attempted to propound a series 
of deep and difficult questions. With regard to 
the second objection, that an ignorant person 
may ask questions which great wisdom can not 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 219 

answer, — while we admit the force of thov truism, 
we do not think it applicable to the present case. 
"We affirm that a positive evidence of the amount 
of knowledge which any one possesses of any 
subject, will be perfectly evinced by the follow- 
ing test : give to the person under examination 
an extended series of questions relating to the 
science professed, and bid him select the most 
difficult from the printed catalogue ; accident 
may aid him for one or two questions, but 
admitting him to be ignorant of the answers 
to all the questions, they are all equally difficult 
to him, and, of course, on this hypothesis any 
selection would inevitably betray his ignorance, 
and should he succeed in making a selection 
truly involving the most difficult inquiries (he 
being ignorant), it could only be accounted for 
by the intervention of divine aid. 

If we admit, then, that the Book of Job was 
composed in an age of the world when all were 
ignorant of the true system of the universe, and 
if within its compass we should find a series of 
astronomical inquiries, professedly selected and 
put to overwhelm the human mind, in case these 



220 ASTKONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

same inquiries, at this day and in the full blaze 
of science, and with all our knowledge of the 
system of nature, should be equally overwhelm- 
ing, we should in reason acknowledge thai they 
could not have been propounded by human 
ignorance, and must have proceeded, as is pro- 
fessed, from the mouth of Him who built the 
universe, and to whom all secrets were open as 
the face of day. 

With these preliminary remarks, we proceed 
to examine the subject with all humility and 
candor. " Then the Lord answered Job out 
of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this t licit 
darJccneth counsel hj words without hnoidcdgc f 
One of the most sublime sentences that ever 
was penned ! Who is this that darJccncth coun- 
sel by words without knowledge? "Who is this 
who pretends to call in question the justice of 
the government of Jehovah ? Is God to be 
arraigned by worms of the dust ? by beings 
whose profoundest wisdom is but darkness, whose 
efforts to elucidate but spread a deeper darkness? 
" Gird up now thy loins like a man ; for I will 
demand of thee, and answer thou me." If, in- 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 221 

deed, ye are competent to sit in judgment on 
the acts of God, then surely your wisdom must 
have taught you the grand secrets of nature. 
" Where wast thou when I laid the foundations 
of the earth ? declare, if thou hast understand- 
ing. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if 
thou knowest ; or who hath stretched the line 
upon it ? Whereupon are the foundations 
thereof fastened ; or who hath laid the corner- 
stone thereof? When the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for 

joy r 

Could the astonished Job, or his still more 
astonished opponents, make any response to 
these humiliating questions ? Has there ever 
been a time, following down the thousands of 
years which have elapsed even to the present 
moment, when all the accumulated wisdom of 
man could make any reply ? 

Some may object to this passage, and urge 
that it actually intimates an ignorance of the 
true condition of the earth by the interrogation, 
otherwise the word "foundations" would not 
have been used. To this objection let me an- 



222 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

swer that the Hebrew word translated " founda- 
tions" means really sockets, something whereon 
a pivot turns; and the word translated "fast- 
ened" is better rendered, "made to sink," as 
though the question had been put, in case this 
earth is fixed, and the heavens revolve about it 
whereon are the sockets made to sink, of the 
axis of this revolution ? or if the earth itself 
rotates, tell me how are the sockets fastened by 
which it is sustained ? 

If this should appear to any one an over- 
strained paraphrase or translation, — -.if it still 
be asserted that there is not in the passage suf- 
ficient ground for such an interpretation, I must 
beg the common privilege of all interpreters to 
explain the difficult and doubtful passages of this 
book by others from the same book throwing 
light upon the same subject. If it still be 
asserted that the word " foundations" is to be 
considered as referring to the vulgar notion that 
the earth was fixed on some unknown support, 
by which it was buoyed up, I must quote a 
single sentence, as beautiful as it is wonderful, 
which will place forever this matter at rest. In 



IK THE BOOK OF JOB. 223 

another part of this poem, when acknowledging 
the majesty and power of God, Job declares that 
" He" (God) " stretcheth out the north over the 
empty place, and hangeth the earth upon noth- 
ing." How astonishing is this declaration ! God 
stretcheth out the north over vacuity, over 
immensity. Deep sunk in space, away in the 
remote north, in the region of vacuity, was seen 
that point about which either the heavens or the 
earth revolved. But the earth itself hangeth on 
nothing. It is suspended in space ; there are no 
foundations ; and who can tell whereon are fast- 
ened the sockets of its rotation? 

Let us come, then, to the answer to this 
question. Propound it to the modern astron- 
omer, to the geometer of the present age. 
Whereupon is the earth hung in empty space, 
and where is fastened the socket on which its 
firm axle is fixed ? Shall it be answered that 
the earth is linked to the great center by the 
power of universal gravitation? What, I demand, 
is this potent energy which has been named 
gravitation. Wherein is this power lodged ? 
Who hath ever grasped it in his hand, or seen, 



224 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

or heard, or felt it ? Not one. Let us not mis- 
take — gravitation is but a name ; it is the repre- 
sentation of a vast multitude of phenomena, wit- 
nessed in the heavens and upon the earth, 
attributable to a cause always acting according 
to an invariable law, — and we call this grav- 
itation. No one has ever conceived what it is, 
— no one, probably, ever will conceive what it 
may be ; and all we can say is this, that the 
great First Cause is pleased to manifest His 
power in the guidance of the orbs of heaven 
according to one uniform law established by Him- 
self, and to a knowledge of that law of operation 
man has been permitted to reach ; — and here he 
stops. Not an inch beyond can he advance; 
and with all his present knowledge, — and I 
admit it to be great, — he can not answer the 
question, Whereon are the sockets of the earth 
fastened, and by whom were they fixed, when 
God stretched out the north over the empty 
space, and hung the solid globe, with all its 
millions, its forests, and oceans, and mountains, 
upon nothing? When the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 225 

It may still be urged that no inquiry, with 
reference to the earth, could be made which 
could be answered ; that they are all equally 
difficult and equally unanswerable, if taken in 
the broad sense we have claimed for the fore- 
going inquiry. I answer that this is not the 
case. Suppose it had been asked, — Knowest 
thou the form of the earth on which thou dwell- 
est? Canst thou comprehend its mighty out- 
lines by thy tiny measures ? Hast thou weighed 
it in a balance and computed its dimensions? 
Each of these questions, in my opinion, would 
have been just as unanswerable by Job or his 
friends as those actually put ; while to the 
modern astronomer their approximate answer at 
least would present no difficulty, and we should 
at this day have regarded such questions as 
proof positive that the interrogator was only 
proposing questions which he could not himself 
answer. 

This first question which we have considered 

regarded the solid earth. We now come to the 

examination of the second interrogation : " Or 

who shut up the sea with doors when it broke 
10* 



226 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

forth, as if it had issued out of the womb ? when 
I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick 
darkness a swaddling-band for it, and broke up 
for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 
and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no far- 
ther ; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed ?" 
I must be permitted here to remark, once for 
all, that it is in these and kindred passages that 
the greatest difficulty has been found by trans- 
lators. This will be readily appreciated when 
we reflect how difficult it is for us to compre- 
hend a work written even in our own language 
that refers to matters of science of which we are 
ignorant. The difficulty is increased, in an 
enormous ratio, if we be attempting to translate 
a foreign tongue, and the matters treated of are 
such as we could not comprehend, even if writ- 
ten in our own language. Such was the diffi- 
culty encountered by the translators of the Bible 
in all those cases involving a reference to scien- 
tific matters, of which not only themselves but 
the age in which they lived were ignorant. It 
was even worse than this. False notions were 
entertained, to accord with which, in many 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 227 

instances, there was a disposition to bend the 
sense of the original, to make it, as was sup- 
posed, the more intelligible. 

In this interrogation the passage translated, 
" and brake up for it my decreed place," is prop- 
erly rendered, " established my decree upon it ;" 
that is, upon the ocean ; a decree by which it 
should be forever governed. No one, who has 
considered the problem of the stability of the 
ocean, can fail to recognize the depth and diffi- 
culty of the inquiry here propounded. Look 
at this mighty mass of waters, covering more 
than two thirds of the entire surface of the 
globe, subject to the influence of the fierce and 
resistless tornado, wrought up into tumultuous 
confusion, its waves rolling and dashing against 
the clouds, and lashing with fury the resounding 
shore. Where, I ask, is the guarantee that whole 
continents shall not be submerged, and every 
vestige of life swept from the surface of the 
earth ? 

How wonderful are the adjustments by which 
the ocean is fixed within the limits assigned by 
the decree of Omnipotence ! Let us point out 



228 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

some of those conditions without which no 
stability could exist. If it were possible to 
empty the waters of earth's oceans into the. cav- 
ities which probably diversify the surface of the 
planet Saturn, and thus spread over its surface 
the heavy ocean of earth, so long as all was 
tranquil the waves would sleep, and a placid 
ocean would spread its unbroken sheet from 
shore to shore. But now let loose upon its 
surface the mighty force of those winds which 
stir its profoundest depths on earth, and no 
precipitous shore, no mountain barrier, could 
restrain the swelling billow ; it would heave, and 
dash, and rise, till, finally, breaking every bar- 
rier, it would engulf island and continent, and 
chaos would assert its ancient empire. 

How is it, then, that the ocean on earth is 
shut up with bars and doors, while, if removed 
to Saturn, no decree of earth can bind it ? It 
is due to the fact that there exists a nice 
adjustment of the relative specific gravity of the 
solid earth and the fluid wave, and of the gas- 
eous atmosphere. The earth greatly preponder- 
ates over the gravity of the ocean, and the ocean 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 229 

vastly preponderates over the gravity of the 
air. If our ocean were removed to Saturn, this 
fluid, unstable covering would possess a greater 
specific gravity than the solid body of the 
planet, and it would be like a globe of cork 
swimming in an envelop of water. The least 
cause of derangement would cause the waters 
to rush to one side of the planet, and the globe 
would, in some sense, float on this concen- 
trated abyss of waters, to be tossed and rolled 
over and over, and every portion submerged 
at any and every moment. Such would be 
the condition of the earth were the relative 
specific gravities of the earth, air, and water 
changed. 

But the power of the atmosphere is not the 
only force which disturbs the tranquillity of the 
ocean wave. All are familiar with the phenom- 
enon of the tides ; those wonderful heavings of 
the mass of waters which are periodical, and are 
due to the powerful influence of the moon and 
sun. "We know that astonishing variations in 
the heights of the tidal waves occur at different 
epochs, and why may it not happen that by some 




230 ASTEONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

dire conjunction of conspiring influences, this 
mighty wave shall not overleap the appointed 
barriers, and submerge the earth ? Here, again, 
the conditions of equilibrium are as wonderful 
as they are complicated. What will be thought 
when I tell you that this stability of the ocean 
involves nothing less than the organization of 
the entire solar system ! Each one of the 
worlds constituting this stupendous system has 
its part to play in maintaining the decree which 
God has established upon the ocean. At one 
period in the history of astronomy it seemed 
that the decree of God must one day be violated. 
The moon has been slowly approaching the earth 
from the earliest ages of the world. From this 
approach the tides due to her influence are now 
heaved up to a greater height than they were 
four thousand years ago. Should this decrease 
in the moons distance continue, the time must 
come when the tide, rising superior to every 
barrier, would whelm the earth, and God's 
decree, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no far- 
ther; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed," 
become null, and the declaration of this so^ 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. . 231 

called sacred volume would be falsified. But 
science, after a long and arduous struggle, at 
length discovered the fact that this decrease of 
the moon's distance, due to the planetary dis- 
turbance of the figure of the earth's orbit, had 
its limits fixed quite as positively as those by 
which God has declared He would restrain the 
ocean. The time will come when the decrease 
of distance is- changed into an increase, and the 
moon slowly leaves the earth by the same 
degrees by which it had, for hundreds of thou- 
sands of years, made its approach, and with it 
sinks the crest of the heaving tide ; and thus do 
ocean wave and rolling moon rise and roll, and 
heave and shine in precise accordance, each 
subject to the will of God, who hath in wisdom 
fixed the boundary of their movements. 

It is certainly sufficiently wonderful that the 
height of the ocean wave should be dependent 
on the relative magnitudes, distances, and spe- 
cific gravities of the sun, earth, moon, and planets. 
No one of these could be altered or interchanged 
and yet leave the ocean's stability unaffected. 
But there is a still more astonishing condition 



232 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

of stability dependent on the figure of the earth 
, and its velocity of rotation on its axis. As this 
is referred to in the next interrogatory, we will 
discuss it in that connection. 

God further demands of Job : " Hast thou 
commanded the morning since thy days, and 
caused the day-spring from on high to know his 
place? * * * That it might take hold of 
the ends of the earth. * * * It is turned 
as clay to the seal, and they stand as a gar- 
ment." Portions of this passage are exceed- 
ingly obscure, as now translated. It seems 
manifest that reference is made to the admirable 
order of recurrence of day and night, and the 
beautiful adjustments by which the dawn breaks 
quietly upon a slumbering world. Hast thou 
commanded the coming of morning since thy 
days, or hast thou taught the day-spring from 
on high to know his place ? Is it at thy bid- 
ding, or in accordance with thy will, that the 
solid earth spins swiftly on its axle, and with 
such an unchanging motion that the morning 
never fails, that the sun knoweth his going 
down, and the day-spring his appointed place ? 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 233 

To the casual reader little may seem to be, 
implied in these profound and overwhelming 
interrogatories ; but to him who reads aright, 
and in the full meridian light of modern science, 
there is such a power and dignity and majesty in 
these questions, that the human mind, proud as 
it is by nature, sinks in low abasement, and 
acknowledges its utter weakness, its absolute 
littleness. 

God demands who launched this globe in 
space, who set bars and doors to the heaving 
deep, and who maintains its swift rotation, by 
which all nature is hastened, and without which 
life would become extinct and animation die. 
Can man accomplish these grand designs by 
which his very being is maintained ? God can 
live though nature die ; while man sinks and 
perishes with any and every change, and yet he 
is impotent to maintain a single phenomenon by 
which he lives. 

With how much precision has the day-spring 
from on high been taught to know his place ! 
For more than three thousand years science has 
gone backward, and, with profound research, 



234 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

reveals the fact that in that vast period the 
length of the day has not changed by the hun- 
dredth part of a single second of time. Xo 
matter how numerous the causes of change, how 
diversified in their action, how multiplied in 
their effects, out of them comes an admirable 
equilibrium, and the earth, with undying ve- 
locity, spins on its sleeping axle. 

Go to him who, night after night, watches the 
revolving heavens ; mark with what implicit 
confidence he relies on the mighty truth that 
Grod has taught the day-spring from on high to 
know his place. He takes his position to sig- 
nalize the meridian passage of his star, — on the 
preceding night it had passed at such a moment 
of time marked on the face of his clock, and 
again to night at the same hour, minute, and 
second, and even to the very thousandth of a 
second, true to the bidding of an unchanging 
Will, his telescope, borne by the revolving earth, 
glances the visual ray to the very center of the 
same identical star ! Xothing can exceed the 
absolute uniformity of the earth's rotation. This 
is not the attribute of celestial motion generally. 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB 235 

The earth, in its annual orbitual motion, is per- 
petually changing its velocity. The moon, in 
like manner, moves at an irregular pace; and 
every planet — and more especially the comets — 
exhibit extraordinary changes of velocity. Why 
is it that the rotation of the earth on its axis 
should be maintained? Should we not expect 
that, in the lapse of thousands of years, this rota- 
tion would slowly die away and disappear ? How 
can it be maintained with such absolute perfec- 
tion ? Again we are lost ; again we are driven 
for explanation to Divine energy. God hath 
commanded the morning, and taught the day- 
spring to know his place. But, it may be 
demanded, wherein lies the necessity of this 
uniformity of motion? Could not the earth 
quite as well have fulfilled its functions with- 
out this nice and beautiful adjustment? The 
answer is in the negative. From the rotation 
of the earth we derive our unit of time. By 
means of its uniformity we are permitted the 
more conveniently to investigate the move- 
ments of the celestial orbs, and to reach to a 
knowledge of the great mysteries of creation. 



236 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

Let this velocity decay by never so small an 
amount, and soon the temperature of the earth's 
various regions becomes deranged, disorder 
enters every kingdom of nature, and, finally, 
destruction ensues. Let the velocity be increased 
by never so small a constant increment, and a like 
result necessarily ensues. But, more astonishing 
still, any change of the velocity of rotation would 
disturb the equilibrium of the ocean, and cause 
it to pass the barriers which God has assigned 
to limit its heaving waves. 

This fact is distinctly alluded to, and in the 
most emphatic language, in this same most re- 
markable poem. 

But, it may be asked, what has the rotation 
of the earth on its axis to do with the retention 
of the sea within its bounds ? Let me briefly 
explain. Were the earth at rest, its figure, if 
even globular, might have maintained its exact 
spherical form. The moment, however, that 
rotation on an axis commences, the equilibrium 
is disturbed, a new force (the centrifugal) is 
introduced, and a modification of the earth's 
form necessarilv follows. Hence we find the 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 237 

earth protuberant at the equator and flattened 
at the poles, simply because at the equatorial 
regions the velocity of the particles being a 
maximum, the resulting centrifugal force is the 
greatest, and the earth is therefore evolved at 
its equator far above the level which would exist 
were it at rest. There is an immense equatorial 
belt surrounding the equator, like an immense 
continuous mountain, upon whose sloping sides 
the equatorial oceans are maintained, not by 
gravity alone, but by the action of that force 
which is dependent on the velocity of the earth's 
rotation on its axis. Could we grasp the solid 
earth, and even by slow degrees arrest its rota- 
tory motion, a universal deluge would be the 
consequence. The water would overleap all 
opposing barriers and flow with rushing speed 
to the poles, while an enormous continent of dry 
land would emerge from the deep and surround 
the equator of the earth. With a full knowledge 
of these facts, understanding clearly that the 
day and the night result, in their continuity and 
perfection, from the * uniformity of the earth's 
rotation, and that from the same cause the ocean 



238 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIGN8 

itself is restrained within the limits assigned 
by God, how powerful does the declaration 
sound, powerful only because of its exact truth, 
" He hath co??ipassed the waters with bounds, until 
the day and the night shall come to an end!' How 
strange it is, that in case the day and the night 
should come to an end, should the earth cease to 
roll on its well-poised axis, then God hath no 
longer compassed the waters with bounds ; the 
boundaries are overleaped ; and old ocean, re- 
leased from its fetters, invades the dry land, and 
desolation follows its terrible march through the 
earth. 

It is in vain to urge that the expression, " until 
the day and the night shall come to an end," 
simply means that God has compassed the 
waters with bounds until the end of time. This 
double sense of these wonderful expressions is 
found too often recurring to be the result of acci- 
dent. The language appears to be selected to 
be at all times appropriate, and to grow brighter 
and more luminous as science shall shed upon 
it a brighter glow. 

How many questions might have been pro- 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 230 

pounded, with reference to the earth and ocean, 
which would have only betrayed the ignorance 
of the interrogator? Had it been demanded 
whether Job had ever sounded the depths of the 
mighty deep, — had h.e ever traversed its bound- 
less extent? Could he declare the secrets 
which were hidden on its unknown shores ? 
These queries might have served to overwhelm 
the mind of God's ancient patriarch, but at 
present they would have lost their force. How 
absurd does the following declaration of He- 
siod, descriptive of the earth's position between 
heaven and Tartarus : 



From the high heaven a brazen anvil cast, 
Nine days and nights in rapid whirls would last, 
And reach the earth the tenth ; whence strongly hurled 
The same the passage to th' infernal world." 



I say how absurd does this declaration appear 
now, when we know that for a body to fall 
even from the sun (whose distance is almost an 
insensible quantity compared with that of the 
stars of heaven), it would require no less than 
sixty-four days and a half; and from the fixed 



240 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

stars, instead of nine days, as asserted by the 
Greek poet, it would require more than forty- 
two millions of days ! In case we should find 
such crude statements within the limits of the 
sacred volume put forth as substantial truth, 
our faith in its origin would end, and its sacred 
character would be destroyed forever. 

We return to the j^assage under consideration. 
We have seen how much power and meaning 
there is in the question, " Hast thou commanded 
the morning since thy days ?" But how are we 
to interpret the words of the context : " And 
caused the day-spring from on high to know 
his place ; that it might take hold of the ends of 
the earth. It is turned as clay to the seal, and 
they stand as a garment." This, I take it, refers 
to the beautiful provision for lighting up the 
world by slow and progressive degrees. Why 
is it that we do not pass instantly from the deep 
gloom of midnight darkness to the full blaze of 
noonday? Not because it requires the earth 
twelve hours to rotate from midnight to noon. 
There is a far different reason. Who has never 
watched with delisrht the first faint evidence of 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 241 

the coming day ? A feeble uncertain glow lights 
up the eastern heavens, this slowly brightening, 
the upper air flings down the rays of the coining 
sun. The ruddy glow deepens, a crimson hue 
suffuses the east, until at length the first ray of 
the sun darts with gentle splendor upon the 
earth. Slowly this orb heaves up his stupendous 
disc, yet shorn of half his beams by the thirsty 
atmosphere drenched with his glorious hues. 

Here, again, we find evidence of the goodness 
and wisdom of God. Such is the constitution 
of light, and such the property of the atmos- 
phere, that by means of the latter the direction 
of the former is bent from its track, curved round 
the earth and moulded to its form as the clay to 
the seal, and standing about the earth as a 
resplendent garment of light. Such at least is 
the interpretation which these difficult passages 
seem to admit. It may be proper to remark, 
that the word translated " ends" of the earth is 
more literally rendered " wings," as though allu- 
sion were made to the atmosphere as a sort of 
wings outstretched around the body of the 

earth. 

11 



242 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

God yet further interrogates Job : " Hast thou 
perceived the breadth of the earth ; declare if 
thou knowest it all ?" Here it -would seem we 
have at length found one interrogatory which, 
although Job could not answer it, is now readily 
answered. Do we not know the extent of the 
earth? Has not man circumnavigated its sur- 
face ? Has he not perceived it all ? It is true 
we have sailed round the earth, but it is equally 
true, that in its breadth, its latitude (for this is 
the meaning, as would appear from the ancient 
usage, of length and breadth as applied to the 
earth), no one has yet perceived or actually sus- 
pected the breadth of the earth. To do this we 
must go from pole to pole, to compass the earth's 
breadth or latitude. We must penetrate these 
hyperborean regions, the empire of eternal frost, 
in which the secrets of the north as well as of 
the south appears to be forever locked. It is 
then equally impossible now and will be a thou- 
sand years hence, as it was three thousand years 
ago, for man to declare that he has actually per- 
ceived with his own eyes the entire breadth or 
latitude of the earth. 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 243 

Here, again, some may say that this is special 
interpretation. The only reply to be made is, 
that it fairly admits this explanation, and to this 
advantage the advocate of the inspired volume is 
justly entitled. 

Again the Almighty demands of Job, " Where 
is the way where light dwelleth, and as for dark- 
ness, where is the place thereof, that thou 
shouldst take it to the bounds thereof, and that 
thou shouldst know the paths to the house 
thereof? Knowest thou it because thou werfc 
then born, or because the number of thy days is 
great ?" Here we are presented with a series of 
inquiries of the most astonishing character. The 
dwelling-place of light and of darkness. The 
bounds of each. The paths to the house of light. 
Did Job comprehend these mysteries, and if so 
was it because he was then born and because the 
number of his days was great ? How strange 
and unintelligible . these queries, and why does 
the knowledge of them imply an age the num- 
ber of whose days is great ? 

Who shall answer these profound inquiries ? 
Who shall declare to us the character of light? 



24i ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

What is this wondrous phenomenon known to us 
under the name of light ? Is it a modification 
of matter, shot forever with incredible velocity 
from heaven's blazing orbs : anon pure and white, 
and then flashing with every imaginable color? 
If it be particles of matter, infinitesimal globules, 
how comes it that the most delicate organ of the 
human frame, the eye, is not torn, and wounded, 
and lacerated, by the millions of particles which 
fall upon its surface ? Is light the effect of 
vibrations of our ethereal medium, pervading all 
space, almost infinitely elastic, and darting its 
waves from the center to the circumference like 
thought ? Then how wonderful the reflection 
that only certain bodies possess the property of 
giving to this medium the velocity of undulation 
demanded for the propagation and production of 
light. Where is the way where light dwelleth ? 
Is its home in the sun and stars ? Does it inhabit 
the ether which filleth immensity, or is it by 
some inscrutable provision of nature made to 
dwell in that wonderful optical instrument the 
eye ? One thing we know, without it and with- 
out the eye all nature were a blank : the heav- 



IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 245 

ens vanish ; earth's flowers fade, and darkness 
wraps the globe. 

But knowest thou the paths to the house 
thereof? Hast thou traced the flashing fluid 
to the bounds thereof? Canst thou say that 
here is the limit beyond which light has never 
passed, and, gazing into the dark abyss beyond, 
declare there darkness reigns ? How deep and 
stupendous these questions to him who hath 
attempted, with u optic tube," to fathom the 
deep profound of God's glorious universe. 

Go with me to yonder " light-house of the 
skies." Poised on its rocky base, behold that 
wondrous tube which lifts the broad pupil of its 
eye high up as if gazing instinctively into the 
mighty deep of space. Look out upon the 
heavens, and gather into your eye its glittering 
constellations. Pause and reflect that over the 
narrow zone of the retina of your eye a universe 
is pictured, painted by light in all its exquisite 
and beautiful proportions. Look upon that lu- 
minous zone which girdles the sky, — observe its 
faint and cloudy light. How long, think you, 
that light has been streaming, day and night, 



246 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS 

with a swiftness w T hich flashes it on its way- 
twelve millions of miles in each and every min- 
ute ? — how long has it fled and flashed through 
space to reach your eye and tell its wondrous 
tale ? Not less than a century has rolled away 
since it left its home ! Hast thou taken it at 
the bound thereof? Is this the hound, — here 
the limit from beyond which light can never 
come ? Look to yonder point in space, and 
declare that thou beholdest nothing, absolutely 
nothing ; all is blank and deep and dark. You 
exclaim, Surely no ray illumines that deep pro- 
found. Place your eye for one moment to the 
tube that now pierces that seeming domain of 
night, and, lo ! ten thousand orbs, blazing with 
light unutterable, burst on the astonished sight. 
Whence start these hidden suns ? Whence 
comes this light from out deep darkness ? 
Knowest thou, man ! the paths to the house 
thereof? Ten thousand years have rolled away 
since these wondrous beams set out on their 
mighty journey ! Then you exclaim, We have 
found the boundary of light; surely none can 
lie beyond this stupendous limit : far in the 



IN" THE BOOK OF JOB. 247 

deep beyond darkness unfathomable reigns. 
Look once more. The vision changes ; a hazy 
cloud of light now fills the field of the telescope. 
"Whence comes the light of this mysterious 
object ? Its home is in the mighty deep, as 
far beyond the limit you had vainly fixed, — ten 
thousand times as far, — as that limit is beyond 
the reach of human vision. And thus we 
mount, and rise, and soar, from height to height, 
upward, and even upward still, till the mighty 
series ends, because vision fails, and sinks, and 
dies. 

Hast thou then pierced the boundary of light ? 
Hast thou penetrated the domain of darkness ? 
Hast thou, weak mortal, soared to the fountain 
whence come these wondrous streams, and taken 
the light at the hand thereof? Knowest thou 
the paths to the house thereof? Hast thou stood 
at yonder infinite origin, and bid that flash 
depart and journey onward, days, and months, 
and years ; century on century, through count- 
less ages, — millions of years, and never weary 
in its swift career ? Knowest thou when it 
started? Knowest thou it because thou wast 



248 ASTRONOMICAL ALLUSIONS. 

then born, and because the number of thy days 
is great ? Such, then, is the language addressed 
by Jehovah to weak, erring, mortal man. How 
has the light of science flooded with meaning 
this astonishing passage ? Surely, surely we do 
not mis-read, — the interpretation is just. 



LECTURE VI. 

THE ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES OF THE BIBLE 
MIRACLES OF POWER. 



LECTURE VI. 

THE AS'iltiOjSOivnCAL SKRACLES OF THE BIBLE MIRACLES 
OF POWEK. 

The topics which we are about to treat briefly 
do not fall within the legitimate scope of our 
investigation. Astronomy has for its object the 
study and exposition of the phenomena of na- 
ture, — not the miracles of God ; and hence the 
uses of astronomy, in illustration, made by the 
writers of the Hebrew scriptures, may be per- 
fectly in accordance with the exact revelations 
of modern science, and yet the miraculous 
accounts stand precisely as we now find them. 

It would, therefore, be entirely proper to 
omit entirely, in our examination of the astron- 
omy of the Bible, any notice of those events 
which are expressly announced as interpositions 
of divine power to check and suspend, or even 
turn back the on-goings of the celestial orbs. 

The events to which I allude are the mirac^ 



252 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

lous stopping of the sun and moon for the space 
of a whole day, at the command of Joshua, and 
the going backward of the shadow ten degrees 
on the sun-dial of Ahaz. 

I will not undertake to discuss what we are 
to understand by a miracle, but shall admit, in 
the outset, that a miraculous event is positively 
at variance with the established laws of nature, 
and can only be produced by a power equal 
to that which enacts and enforces these laws. 
With this understanding, the first question which 
presents itself is this : — with our present knowl- 
edge of the absolute uniformity of the operation 
of the laws of nature, — such as the laws of motion 
and of gravitation, — is it possible to give credence 
to any statement, no matter how well sustained 
by human testimony, that in one or more instances 
these laws have been suspended, and phenomena 
have occurred directly in opposition to these 
laws? 

It can not be denied that a Power competent 
to select, enact, and enforce a system of laws, 
can at His pleasure suspend, alter, or wholly 
abrogate any or all qf them, subject only to this 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 253 

restriction, — that the changes and modifications 
must be consistent with each other and with 
what remains. There is no power can accom- 
plish an impossibility — no 'power can make two 
and two equal to five ; and thus even Omnipo- 
tence is compelled to work within limits of def- 
inite comprehension. 

The physical universe, so far as we under- 
stand, is governed by invariable laws. These 
laws, to a certain extent, have been discovered 
by human reason and research ; and among them 
none se^ms to be better established than the 
laws of motion and gravitation. By these laws 
the movements of the celestial orbs are con- 
trolled ; and, so far as human observation ex- 
tends, there never has been any deviation from 
these laws. 

Is it, then, reasonable or philosophic to accept 
a statement made in a volume written in an age 
of the world when these laws governing the 
physical universe were unknown, which, if cred- 
ited, compels us to believe that the Creator and 
sovereign Lawgiver, on two special occasions, 
suspended, or for a time abrogated these laws as 



254 ASTRONOMICAL MIKACLES 

evidence of His good-will to certain of His crea- 
tures ? 

We frankly confess that this subject is sur- 
rounded with its difficulties, not so much arising 
from the abstract question as to whether God 
can suspend His laws of action, as from the utter 
ignorance of causes which may operate on the 
mind of the Supreme to decide that such a sus- 
pension should be made. To arrest the sun and 
moon in mid-heaven to enable one set of com- 
batants to achieve a victory over another, or to 
turn the sun backward in his career that the 
shadow on the dial may reverse its movement 
as a token that God had rebuked the disease 
under which a Jewish king was suffering, and 
that fifteen years should be added to his life, 
are facts which, when presented in their sim- 
plest form, are sufficiently incredible. But, 
unfortunately, human judgment can not by any 
possibility comprehend the problem. How can 
a finite being penetrate into the councils of the 
Infinite ? To form a correct judgment in the 
premises, the mind of man must stretch away 
down the interminable sweep of time, and trace 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 255 

out to infinitude all the resulting effects and 
influences in the government of God. In case, 
then, we admit that circumstances may arise 
which would render credible a statement that 
God had interposed, and for a longer or shorter 
time suspended the laws of nature, we can not 
fail to perceive that such admission renders it 
possible to believe, on human testimony, that 
such an interposition has actually taken place. 
For we can never know the causes and conse- 
quences leading to and resulting from such a 
miraculous interposition of divine power. 

But we may go yet farther and propound the 
question, Is it reasonable or philosophic, to 
believe that the Supreme Creator, endowed with 
omniscience, would originate a scheme of crea- 
tion and government, wherein invariable laws 
linked together the entire universe of matter, 
and then, for any reason, would suspend the 
operation of these laws for a special purpose, 
and only with reference to individual objects ? 

This after all is the great question. It is not 
whether we are disposed to give credence to 
one particular alleged miraculous event; but 



256 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

whether it is reasonable to believe that any such 
event ever did, or ever will take place. I know- 
there are many who deny that a philosopher can 
believe in a miracle, and yet so far as my limited 
powers of reasoning can carry me, I am com- 
pelled to express the opinion that it is unphilo- 
sophic to deny the possibility of miraculous in- 
terposition of Divine power. 

What are these so-called laws of matter ? 
What are these laws of motion and of gravita- 
tion ? They are certainly not inherent qualities 
and properties of matter : if so, this dead insen- 
sate matter rises above and superior to the power 
of God the Creator, and so far as any change in 
these qualities and properties are concerned, may 
defy the Omnipotent. 

Matter can have no properties, or qualities, or" 
power, except so far as these are derived from 
the direct and ever-acting will of the Creator. 
To say, then, that the sun attracts the planets 
according to the law of gravitation ; to say that 
the planets revolve around the sun in obedience 
to the laws of motion and gravitation, is nothing 
more than to say that these material bodies are 



MIKACLES OF POWER. 257 

impelled by the Divine power exerting itself in 
strict and unalterable harmony with laws which 
God has chosen, and from which He simply does 
not choose to deviate. 

It may be difficult to conceive and acknowl- 
edge that matter possesses of itself no quality, 
that iron is not hard, lead heavy, water fluid, air 
gaseous, in and of themselves, and quite inde- 
pendent of even the very being and existence 
of a Supreme Creator. But how can the par- 
ticles of iron, or of lead, or of water, or air, 
exert any force upon each other, which forces, 
beyond a doubt, operating between the particles 
of these materials, give to them their outward 
qualities of hardness, or heaviness, or fluidity. 
Rising to still grander organisms, we behold the 
wonderful and overpowering equilibrium which 
distinguishes the allied orbs which constitute the 
cortige of the sun. Here, again, I demand, has 
the sun, in and of itself, independent of God the 
Creator, the power to attract his dependent 
worlds ? Have these orbs, as they roll and shine, 
the power, independent of God, to reciprocate 
this attractive power ? Can the earth we inhabit 



2d3 a stkokonicai kibaglea 

put forth an energy independent of God, and bid 
the moon sway to its commanding and controlling 
power ? This living force, this potent influence, 
is even denied to mam who thinks, and reasons, 
who lives, and hopes, and yet shall we attribute 
it to inert matter, dead, insensate, without one 
germ of living force ? 

True philosophy, I think, compels us to ac- 
knowledge that all the operations of nature, 
from the sweep of the planet down to the gentle 
sway of the bending floweret, are of and from 
the will of the Supreme momentarily exerted 
and put forth forever according to invariable 
laws. 

We may propound, then, with propriety, how 
it comes to pass that the will of God momentarily 
exerted to sustain and carry forward the infi- 
nitely diversified and multitudinous operations of 
nature, should be exerted according to invariable 
laws ? Here we stand on the threshold of a 
mighty inquiry, one that I can not here attempt 
to penetrate. But we can stand on the very 
threshold and afifirm, that in case God did not 
govern himself in the exertion of His will in the 



MIRACLES OF POWER, 



259 



physical universe by invariable laws, man could 
never rise to any correct knowledge of any thing 
external to himself. All human inquiry into 
nature is based on the grand assumption that 
nature's laws are absolutely invariable, and build- 
ing on this corner-stone our solid substratum of 
inquiry, we ascend slow]y but surely, from step 
to step, onward and upward, until the grand 
mysteries of nature stand revealed, and the glory 
and wisdom of God as displayed in the physical 
universe stand revealed. 

If, then, the physical heavens and earth, — if 
the diverse organisms which fill the universe, 
were intended to educate the intellect, the soul, 
and the heart of man, unalterable laws, fixed as 
the being of God, lie at the foundation of the 
success of this grand design. No deviation or 
deviations from these laws can be admitted, 
unless in our weak judgment man's education 
may thereby be more rapidly and successfully 
accomplished. 

The revelation of the Creator to the creature? 
by any means short of those we denominate 
miraculous, except in so far as God declares 



260 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

Himself in the laws of nature, is a matter suffi- 
ciently difficult, and perhaps even incompre- 
hensible to man. 

Let us for a moment admit that God has 
established the laws of nature, and that it is 
impossible for Him to suspend, modify, or abro- 
gate any one of these laws, in what way can He 
possibly demonstrate to rational creatures the 
truth of any message He may desire to communi- 
cate ? I remember once to have received a visit 
from a person of grave demeanor, wearing a 
long beard, long hair, a leathern girdle, a strange 
costume, and bearing a staff which he called 
Beauty, and proclaiming himself the prophet 
Elijah, sent direct from God to demand posses- 
sion of the grounds I then occupied, to build 
thereon the city of the new Jerusalem. I at 
once demanded the credentials of this strange 
being. Let us admit him truly to have been 
sent from God, how upon the instant could he 
have demonstrated the truth of his claim in case 
the working of a miracle be impossible ? If, 
however, on my demand he had lifted his hand 
to the sun, and at his command this mighty orb 



MIRACLES OF POWER. "^01 

could have stood still in midst of heaven, or 
the lengthening shadow on the dial could have 
been turned hack at his bidding, then I would 
have been compelled to acknowledge the com- 
mand as coming from the Supreme, as the evi- 
dence would have been absolute and irresistible. 

I contend, therefore, that miracles can not be 
excluded from the government of the Creator; 
that they form a medium* of intercommunication 
with His creatures ; that they must be employed 
whenever the education and moral elevation of 
humanity can be more perfectly or more rapidly 
accomplished by their use than by the uniform 
action of natural laws; and that it would be 
unphilosophical to reject altogether the evidence 
offered to prove the occurrence of a miraculous 
event. 

"With these general views we proceed to an 
examination of the miracles already alluded to 
as supposed to have been wrought, and the 
record of which is thought to be found in the 
Hebrew scriptures. 

Let us admit the facts as generally received, 
that at the command of Joshua the sun and 



262 ASTRONOMICAL MIEACLE3 

moon did stand still, and hastened not to go 
down for a whole day ; and that there was no 
da}' like that before it or after it that the Lord 
hearkened to the voice of a man. 

What special interference with the laws of 
motion and gravitation would be required to 
accomplish the results here demanded ? To 
arrest the apparent motion of the sun and moon, 
it is only necessary to "suspend the rotation of 
the earth on its axis. Its revolution in its orbit 
might continue uninterrupted ; the moon's revo- 
lution around the earth, in like manner, might 
remain unaffected ; and, indeed, the whole plan- 
etary system could not in the smallest degree be 
affected by any change in the period of rotation 
of the earth on its axis. But any sudden check 
in the velocity of rotation of the earth on its 
axis, would have a tendency to throw from its 
surface, especially near the equator. Xo sud- 
den check, however, is required ; and, indeed, 
a gradual diminution of the velocity of rotation 
might be made, such that in fortv seconds the 
motion might cease entirely, and the change 
would not be sensible to the inhabitants of the 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 263 

earth except from the appearance of the heav- 
ens. It may then be asked, Did the miracle 
only require the gradual destruction of the rota- 
tion of the earth on its axis, and the restoration 
of the same ? I answer that much more was 
demanded. The figure of the earth is such that 
the ocean, so far as it covers the equatorial 
regions, is sustained to a much higher level by 
the centrifugal force due to the velocity of rota- 
tion than would be compatible with its equili- 
brium in case this element of stability were 
destroyed. So that the direct interposition of 
the power of God would be required to not only 
suspend the earth's rotation, but also to prevent 
the equatorial oceans from rushing to the poles, 
and in their passage submerging the whole 
earth. 

Such, then, are the physical demands in case 
the phenomenon of the standing still of the sun 
and moon were effected by arresting the rotation 
of the earth on its axis. While it does not 
involve a general suspension of the laws of gravi- 
tation and motion in the planetary system, it 
does demand the intervention of omnipotent 



264 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

power and the positive suspension of the laws 
of motion and gravitation in respect to the ocean 
which lies upon the earth's surface. 

Is it then credible that the Supreme would 
thus interpose and exert His power to bring 
about the phenomenon described under the cir- 
cumstances recorded ? Here, as already urged, 
we can not reach any just conclusion. We can 
not know, except by revelation, why God may 
have found it necessary thus to interpose. His 
eye alone can pierce the dark curtain of the 
future, and His omniscience is alone capable of 
tracing such an event in its remote conse- 
quences, through the endless ages which are 
ever rolling on in the development of the great 
drama of creation. 

If, then, the question be propounded, Can 
you credit a miracle involving the cessation of 
the rotation of the earth, — the equilibrium of 
the ocean during this cessation, and the restora- 
tion of the velocity of rotation, — I answer 
unequivocally Yes. If, however, the question 
be put, Do you give credence to evidence pre- 
sented in the tenth chapter of the Book of 



MIRACLES OF TO WEE. 2G5 

Joshua, regarded by some as proof of the mir- 
acle in question, I shall be compelled to answer, 
No. 

To explain niy meaning let me say again that 
He who built the heavens and established the 
laws of universal matter, who reveals Himself 
to His intelligent, moral, responsible creatures 
in the grandeur of the physical universe, can 
undoubtedly suspend, modify, or abrogate any 
one or all of His established laws ; that He 
would never cut Himself off from the use of 
miraculous events in His moral government ; and, 
lastly, that no law of nature would ever be sus- 
pended while the same result could be reached 
by the miraculous use of the established laws of 
nature. Admitting, still, that at Joshua's bid- 
ding the sun and moon stayed their course, and 
hastened not to go down even for the space of a 
whole day, there is another way in which this 
miraculous event could have been produced 
without in any degree interrupting the earth's 
rotation or suspending the laws of equilibrium 
which govern the heaving waters of the great 

deep. 

r 12 



266 ASTRONOMICAL, MIBACLES 

It is well known that the atmosphere, in com- 
mon with many transparent substances, possesses 
the power of refracting light so as to bend the 
rays from their rectilineal path, causing them to 
reach the eye even after the object whence they 
are emitted or reflected is already below the 
horizon. Thus we know that the sun, moon, 
and stars from this cause always remain visible 
for a short time after their setting below the 
horizon; and in fixing the place of a celestial 
body, astronomers are compelled to determine 
the laws of atmospheric refraction, and to apply 
to the apparent place a correction due to refrac- 
tion to obtain the true place. 

Here, then, we find among the laws of nature 
the means whereby the sun and moon, by mi- 
raculous power, might be made to remain per- 
manently for hours in the same apparent place. 
By interposing a refracting medium of such 
variable density that the refractive power would 
precisely counteract the effect of the earth's 
rotation, the sun and moon might be made to 
stand still even for the space of a whole day. 
This would, indeed, be quite ay miraculous as to 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 267 

arrest the earth's rotation, and would demand 
nothing less than the interposition of the divine 
omnipotence. No natural hr\vs, operating within 
their usual limits, could produce any such effect; 
and while in this case we would be compelled to 
admit the miraculous character of the phenom- 
enon, it is wrought by the aid of natural laws, 
and not in opposition to them. 

Indeed, the miraculous retroversion of the 
shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz, may readily be 
accounted for by supposing a miraculous inter- 
position of a refracting medium sufficient to turn 
the sun apparently backward ten degrees in his 
diurnal circuit. Still the event is miraculous, 
and not according to the order of nature, but 
wrought out, as has been said, by the aid of 
natural laws. 

While, then, we are willing to admit on 
credible testimony, even the suspension of the 
laws of motion and gravitation, that God may 
thereby the better administer the affairs of His 
moral government ; and while we more readily 
admit the miraculous use of natural laws, we 
now come to consider whether it is unequivocally 



268 ASTEOXOMICAL III EAGLES 

recorded in the Hebrew scriptures that the sun 
and moon stayed in their course at the command 
of Joshua, and w hasted not to go down for about 
the space of a whole day.'" And if such record 
is found to exist beyond reasonable doubt, does 
astronomical science now possess a sufficient 
knowledge of the movements of the sun and 
moon as to pronounce with certainty as to what 
were their relative positions on the date of the 
occurrence of the recorded event ? 

I do not profess any knowledge of the 
Hebrew, neither do I pretend to have made 
a profound examination of the passage in 
the tenth chapter of Joshua, in which this 
event is presumed to be recorded. It is suffi- 
cient for my purpose to state that able critics 
among the students of sacred literature have 
reached the conclusion that the declaration in 
question is a poetical quotation from the Book 
of Jasher. and hence the statement, "is not this 
written in the book of Jasher.'' or "the upright.'' 
This same book is quoted nearly in the same 
language in one of the other books of the Old 
Testament. So long, them as there is any rea- 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 26^ 

sonable doubt as to the verity of the record, it 
would seem quite unnecessary to hold those who 
receive the Bible as a book of divine authority 
responsible for a miracle which seems to involve 
nothing less than the suspension of the laws of 
nature in that vast realm wherein uniformity 
seems to be most positively demanded. 

Again, if we examine the record we find, that 
in case certain portions are omitted, in which this 
poetical quotation is involved, that the historical 
account is made more consistent with itself. We 
are told that Joshua came up to the aid of 
Gibeon, from Gilgal, by a forced march which 
continued all night. The battle with the five 
kings occurred the next day, in which they were 
discomfited, and fled before the army of Joshua, 
being pursued and destroyed by tempest and by 
hail-stones, "and there were more which died 
with the hail-stones, than they whom the chil- 
dren of Israel slew with the sword." If now 
we omit verses 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, the nar- 
rative continues : " And it was told Joshua, say- 
ing, The five kings are found in a cave at Mak- 
kedah." But if these verses be retained, we are 



270 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

told, in the fifteenth verse, that Joshua returned 
to Grilgal and all Israel with him, and no mention 
whatever is made of his coming again to Mak- 
kedah, to complete the conquest of this and the 
other four cities which were destroyed, after the 
conquest of which it is again said that Joshua 
and all Israel with him returned to the camp at 
Grilgal, precisely as in the fifteenth verse. 

There seems, therefore, a reasonable doubt as 
to the correctness of the record, and as to 
whether this seeming record of miraculous inter- 
position, by the arrest of the apparent motion of 
the sun and moon, may not be a mere quotation 
from some ancient Hebrew poem now lost. 

Indeed the defeat and destruction of the 
Amorites seems to have been complete. They 
fled before Israel and were destroyed by the 
hail-storm from Beth-horon to Azekah, and after 
this signal destruction and already miraculous 
victory, we are told that Joshua spake \mto the 
Lord, and he said in the sight of all Israel, " Sun, 
stand thou still on Gibeon, and thou moon in the 
valley of Ajalon." This prolonging of the day 
does not seem to be necessary under the circum- 



MIRACLES OF POVEK. 



271 



stances, and so soon as our suspicion is aroused 
as to the genuineness of the passage, we see 
many reasons to confirm this suspicion. But we 
will leave this, where it properly belongs, to 
biblical critics, and return to the consideration 
of the question, Does our present knowledge of 
the relative motions of the sun and moon enable 
us to decide whether any such miracle has been 
absolutely performed? 

To bring this question within the legitimate 
scope of astronomical investigation, we must 
admit that the miracle was performed, not by the 
interposition of a refracting medium, which made 
the sun and moon appear to stand still, but by a 
positive cessation of the motion of rotation of 
the earth on its axis, whereby a day was in- 
creased in length by a certain number of hours, 
amounting to, say, from eight to twelve. 

The event under consideration took place about 
one thousand four hundred years b. c, and con- 
sequently more than three thousand two hundred 
years ago. Can the science of Astronomy go 
back to so remote a period, and pronounce with 
certainty as to the relative positions of the sun 



272 A8TBOKOMIC AL MIKACLEG 

and moon? In case it be possible to determine 
the relative positions of Gib eon and Ajalon. such 
is our present knowledge of the apparent motions 
of the sun and moon, that we could compute 
backward and pronounce with certainty, that on 
a given day. in a given year, the sun and moon 
either did or did not hold the places assigned 
them. 

The most complex, profound, and involved 
problem ever presented for human investigation 
is this very one to predict, or compute, the rela- 
tive places of the sun and moon, as seen by a 
spectator on the earth's surface. It involves 
every delicacy of instrumental observation, the 
entire depth and power of mathematical analysis, 
every artifice of computation, and a full knowl- 
edge of the numerous orbs which constitute the 
mighty system which owes allegiance to the 
sun. And yet. we have reason to believe that 
after a struggle of six thousand years, involving 
the best talent, the most powerful genius, the 
most elaborate effort, the problem is finally solved. 
and almost at the very time we write. It is 
possible to unwind the tangled and confused 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 273 

pathway of the moon among the stars, and to 
unroll the golden thread spun by the solar orb, 
in the long centuries of its past revolutions, and 
to pronounce with certainty, that on a given day, 
at a given hour, the sun did or did not stand over 
Gibeon, while the moon did or did not stand over 
the valley of Ajalon. 

This is now demonstrated by the computation 
and ancient eclipses of the sun and moon, eclipses 
observed and recorded more than two thousand 
years ago. Whenever, then, the exact geograph- 
ical position of Joshua's camp shall have been 
determined, — when we shall learn where is 
Gibeon and the valley of Ajalon, — when we 
shall come to know at what season of the year 
this great battle was fought, in what month and 
on what day of the month the Hebrew warrior 
won his great victory, — then we can pronounce 
with positive certainty that the place assigned 
to the sun over Gibeon and that given to the 
moon over Ajalon were or were not those occu- 
pied by these celestial orbs on the date of this 
miraculous event. If, indeed, the earth's rota- 
tion were then suspended, — if, at the bidding of 
12* 



274 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

God, its swift revolution on its " noiseless axle" 
slowly died away, — if by miraculous power the 
equilibrium of the ocean were maintained, and 
its stupendous wave was upheld by the hand of 
Divine Omnipotence, — these extraordinary events 
must stand out full, positive, absolute. For here 
there will be a break, a gap, a hiatus created by 
this cessation of the earth's rotation for the space 
of a whole day, in uniform recurrence of day and 
night ; and the astronomical phenomena prior to 
this wonderful day and those subsequent to it 
can only be reconciled on the supposition that 
the day was prolonged to double its usual length. 
But let us admit that astronomical science and 
computation have the power to trace back the 
sun and moon, and pronounce their relative posi- 
tions five thousand years ago ; let us admit that 
eclipses recorded before the time of Joshua, 
when compared with those recorded since his 
time, demonstrate the uniform and uninterrupted 
rotation of the earth on its axis ; let us admit 
that the most satisfactory and indubitable evi- 
dence of the geographical positions of Gibeon 
and Ajalon are reached, and the date of Joshua's 



MIRACLES OF POWER • 275 

victory is fixed beyond doubt or cavil ; and that 
astronomical computation shows that while the 
sun rested over Gibeon, the moon did hang over 
the valley of Ajalon, — what will all this show ? 
Simply and solely that the miraculous arrest of 
the sun and moon was not accomplished by the 
stoppage of the earth's rotation. But in case 
astronomy, pointed to the above facts, demon- 
strates that while the sun actually rested over 
Gibeon the moon could not have hung over 
Ajalon, then we shall be compelled to conclude 
that the event has been interpolated from some 
ancient Hebrew poem now forever lost. 

The second miracle of power, — the retreat of 
the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz, — has been 
already sufficiently considered, and may be so 
obviously produced by the interposition of a 
refracting medium, that any further notice seems 
quite superfluous. 

From the preceding discussion the question 
may arise, How can we be assured that God 
ever does positively interrupt any of the laws 
of nature ? In the miracle just considered, how 
could we become assured that the sun and moon 



276 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

were positively arrested by the cessation of the 
earth's rotation ? In short, should a professed 
messenger from God at this day stand upon the 
earth and command the sun and moon to stay 
their course in mid-heaven, how can we pro- 
nounce this to be the effect of a refracting 
medium, or the result of the actual stoppage of 
the earth's axial revolution ? 

Our present knowledge of the physical struc- 
ture of the universe is such that we could not 
mistake for one moment the real nature of the 
miracle. Should the rotation of the earth on its 
axis be increased by five seconds of time in 
twenty-four hours, all the time-keepers in all the 
watch-towers of the world would proclaim the 
fact, — all the stars would fail to keep their 
appointed meridian transits, and would, in sym- 
pathy with the great orbs of light, linger in their 
nocturnal march. The bursting out in the 
heavens of a thousand fiery comets in a single 
night could produce no such mortal terror to 
the astronomer as this falling backward of the 
mighty sphere of the starry universe for one single 
second in twenty-four hours, for it would speak 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 277 

the doom of the universe in announcing that God's 
right arm was growing heavy, and His omnip- 
otent will was commencing to stagger under 
the weight of ten millions of rolling worlds. 
Should such an event ever occur, — should the 
time ever come when indeed those shining sen- 
tinels in the high heavens should fail to keep 
their appointed vigils, — when the astronomer 
shall look wistfully through " optic tube" for the 
coming of the faithful star which, prompt to the 
thousandth of a single second, has traversed his 
meridian line, and, lo ! the star lingers in its 
journey, seconds ebb slowly away and merge 
into minutes, and at last the star appears, no 
matter if with its wonted beauty, the astronomer 
stands aghast, and well may he tremble, for the 
powers of the heavens are smitten, and God is 
deserting the universe which sprang into being 
at His divine command. Human confidence and 
faith would be gone forever, and no remedy 
could avail to rectify the Wrong. 

We have no fears that our confidence will 
ever be thus rudely shaken, not because we 
believe nature and her laws to be eternal, not 



278 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

because we believe that this stupendous mech- 
anism has endured from all eternity, — for even 
then after countless revolutions, a fault, an 
anomaly, a failure in the series of sequences 
might occur, and, with its terrific utterance, 
announce the possible running down or destruc- 
tion of the mechanism, but because I believe that 
God the Eternal, All-wise, Incomprehensible, 
created and now sustains all things by the word 
of His power : it is because of God's eternity 
that we dwell in simple trust upon an unshaken 
order, and a purpose to be achieved. 

Before closing this subject, it may be expected 
that something shall be said of those remarkable 
passages in the New Testament, in which are set 
forth in prophetic language, at once sublime and 
terrific, the final doom of the earth we inhabit. 
Is it credible that this earth is to be consumed 
by fire, — that the sun and moon are to be dark- 
ened, — that the stars of heaven are to fall, — that 
the skies are to be wrapped in flame, and to be 
rolled up as a scroll, — are these oriental figures 
or dread realities, which at no distant day are 
to strike terror to the inhabitants of earth ? 



MIRACLES OF POWER. 279 

I frankly confess I do not know how to 
answer these questions, and I do not believe 
that all the science and philosophy which now 
exists on earth, can fit an individual one particle 
for their comprehension or solution. There are 
those who find in the internal structure of the 
earth, — its volcanoes with their rivers of molten 
lava, — evidences that these sublime predictions 
are one day to be accomplished. I dare not thus 
point out to the All-wise the means to accomplish 
his purposes. I can only bow and reverently 
accept. And do you really believe that the day 
will ever come, when this great globe, with its 
rock-ribbed mountains, shall melt with fervent 
heat, — its ocean billows flash into unmeasured 
volumes of fiery steam, — when flaming fire 
shall wrap the doomed planet and devour its very 
being, and blot it from its kindred family of 
worlds ? I can only answer that I know of no 
special reason why this earth should be eternal. 
Its destruction does not involve the well-beino; 
of the universe, and were it even blotted from 
existence it would but momentarily disturb the 
equilibrium of the great scheme of worlds, of 



280 ASTRONOMICAL MIRACLES 

which it forms an insignificant unit. But should 
God destroy its present form ; should it indeed 
be baptized with fire ; should it be purged and 
purified, God can bring it out of this terrific 
ordeal, not one atom of His matter lost, but all 
remodeled, restored, recreated, a new world filled 
with beauty, and joy, and perpetual happiness ; 
where death — the wages of sin — shall never 
appear, and where neither tears, nor sobs, nor 
sorrows shall dim the beauty of its enchanting 
abodes. 

Of all these things I am profoundly ignorant ; 
but the moment the mind grasps the great idea 
of an ever-living, ever-active, ever-present God, 
the Creator and Supporter of all things, our 
Father and our Friend, then all subordinate dif- 
ficulties vanish. There we cast the anchor of 
our faith, sure and steadfast, and no doubt can 
ever arise, to fling its darkness and gloom over 
the unruffled sea on which we calmly float. 

To this point have my investigations, and 
studies, and thoughts, and observations in the 
heavens and in the earth, in physical nature and 
in human thought, in matter and in mind, brought 



MIKACLES OF POWEE. 281 

me with irresistible power. As a physical phi- 
losopher, I am compelled to believe in God ; as 
a believer in God, I am compelled to accept the 
great truth, that He can reveal himself by mi- 
raculous power. As a student of the economy, 
and order, and perpetuity of God's government, 
I am compelled to believe that no miracle will be 
wrought by the suspension or temporary abroga- 
tion of the laws of nature, which are God's 
uniform expressions of His Divine will, when 
the same may be accomplished by the miraculous 
use of natural laws. As a thinking, sentient, 
loving, suffering, willing, being, I am compelled to 
lift myself, and all my race, immeasurably above 
the myriad worlds that roll and shine in space, 
and declare that a single tear ebbing from the 
heart of humble sorrow, is of more value, in the 
sight of God, than a legion of suns. The moral, 
then, towers infinitely above the material, and it 
is only to give to the moral greater strength, 
and beauty, and grandeur, that God has organized 
the material, and whenever in the rolling ages 
Divine wisdom shall decide that one atom can 
be added to the moral by the total subversion of 



282 ASTRONOMICAL MIEACLBS. 

the material, then the sun and moon shall be 
darkened, the stars shall fall, the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the heavens shall be 
rolled up as a scroll, and, out of this seeming 
destruction, a new heaven and a new earth shall 
appear radiant with beauty, and eternally 
crowned with the blessings of God, and with 
never-ending light and glory. 



LECTURE VII. 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE 



LECTURE VII. 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

It is our purpose now to consider the current 
language employed by the writers of the sacred 
volume in speaking of the physical universe. 
There nerer has been a time, when those igno- 
rant of any science, could employ that science 
and its facts intelligently in any composition, 
for the very language used would inevitably 
reveal the fact, that the writer could have no just 
idea of the science to which he ventured to 
make reference. This remark must remain true, 
when applied to the writers of the various books 
of the Bible. It is in vain to say that the 
grandeur of the nocturnal heavens, the glitter- 
ing splendors of the starry sphere, the dazzling 
glory of the sun, and the milder effulgence of 
the moon and planets, must have inspired exalted 
ideas in all ages. This is quite as true of all 



286 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE 

the ancient historical nations, as of the Hebrews. 
The Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, 
Greeks, and Romans, beheld the same heavens 
and were illuminated by the same splendors 
which shone on the Hebrew prophets and the 
Hebrew poets, and yet none of these ancient 
nations reached any such exalted conceptions, or 
recorded in language so just and so sublime, the 
direct dependence of the created universe on 
God the omnipotent Creator. 

Thus we find in the oldest book of the Hebrew 
scriptures, in the very first sentence of that most 
mysterious of volumes, the simple sublime dec- 
laration, In the beginning God created the heavens 
and the earth. There is no argument, — no train 
of complex reasoning on the relations of the 
material and immaterial, — no profound research 
into the origin of matter, its qualities and prop- 
erties, its creation and primordial condition or its 
eternal existence, — there is no talk of a former 
chaos, and old night, and the omnipotent energy 
put forth to quell the chaotic confusion and to 
educe harmony and beauty; — not one word 
of all this, but simply and sublimely, "In 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 287 

the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth." 

When we compare this language and declara- 
tion with the origin of all things as given by the 
most ancient nations, we can not fail to be struck 
with its vast superiority. The Egyptian priests, 
according to Herodotus, ascribe all things to a 
great winged egg; the Persians, if we are to 
credit Eusebius, made the principle of the uni- 
verse a gloomy and tempestuous atmosphere. 
From this gloomy and tempestuous atmosphere 
first sprang a wind ; this wind, becoming enam- 
ored of its own principle, produced desire or 
love, and from this love, with the wind as father, 
first came mind, and hence all the generations of 
the universe. 

If it be asserted that these are but the wild 
dreams of barbarians, let us examine for a mo- 
ment the theories of the refined and philosophic 
Greeks. Thales, the Ionian, and the founder of 
a philosophic sect, made water the universal 
principle; Plato, the prince of Greek philos- 
ophers, maintained that the universe was simply 
arranged by the power of God, but that the 



288 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

Deity was incapable of such a creation; Aris* 
totle adopted the philosophy of Plato ; Zeno 
maintained that the universe, as it now exists, 
was brought into order by its own energy; 
while Epicurus asserted that all things had 
sprung from a fortuitous concourse of atoms. 

He who now scans the magnificence and gran- 
deur of the celestial mechanism, — who surveys 
the sublime equilibrium of the rolling worlds 
which circle round the sun, swaying and swayed, 
disturbing and disturbed, ever changing and 
never changed, rolling on from eternity to eter- 
nity, — will be compelled to adopt the language 
of the Hebrew leader and lawgiver, " In the 
beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth." If we extend our researches beyond 
the limit of the sun's domain, sweeping beyond 
the orbit of the farthest planet, and ever leaving 
behind us the utmost verge of the comets' sweep, 
penetrating the region of the blazing stars, and 
traveling in the might of human thought and 
human vision, from universe to universe, here 
surrounded by systems of mysterious organiza- 
tion, with an equilibrium of motion as sublime 



THE LAX Cr U AGE OF THE BIBLE. 2Si? 

and solid as eternity, — we instinctively adopt 
the language of Moses the servant of God, and 
exclaim, In the bejinning God created the heavens 
and the earth. 

The same sublime simplicity pervades the 
entire account given by Moses, of the order of 
creation. The Spirit of God moved on the 
face of the waters ; and God said, Let there be 
light, and there was light. And God said, Let 
the earth bring forth. And God made man in 
His own image, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life, and he became a living creature. 
And these are the generations of the heavens 
and the earth, in the day that the Lord God 
created the heavens and the earth. 

The problem presented for solution is simply 
this : Does an intimate knowledge of the uni- 
verse as developed by the grand discoveries of 
modern science, cause these declarations to sink 
into insignificance, or to rise to grander and more 
stupendous proportions ? It can not be denied 
that such a knowledge as we now possess of the 
structure of the heavens, does cause the doctrine 
of the Egyptians. Persians, and Greeks, as 

13 



290 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

already sketched, to appear simply ridiculous. 
I use the only words which can express my 
meaning. Even the philosophy of Plato which 
elevates matter above God, and asserts the power 
of the Omnipotent to extend only to the organi- 
zation and not to creation, can not satisfy the 
demands of the mind imbued with a full knowl- 
edge of the revelations of modern science. We 
are compelled to go backward to the beginning, 
and propound the mighty interrogatory, Whence 
sprang the matter of which these multitudinous 
worlds were formed ? Whence the mysterious 
and incomprehensible principle of light ? Whence 
the still more mysterious and incomprehensible 
principle of vegetable life ? And whence the 
breath of life, whereby man became a living 
soul, with thought and reason, joy, sorrow, and 
love ? These questions must be answered, and 
we find the only satisfactory response in the 
language of the Bible : God hath created all 
things and sustaineth all things, by the word of 
His power. * 

Leaving this great topic of creation, which we 
shall treat hereafter more at large, and which we 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 291 

now only mention for the purpose of noting the 
language employed by the Hebrew writer, let us 
pass to an examination of the doctrine of God's 
providence, as displayed in the maintenance of 
absolute rule in the physical universe. 

There are, doubtless, philosophers and astron- 
omers, who in their mathematical and astronomi- 
cal investigations, leave out of the great problem 
of nature the very being of God. This, indeed, 
in the very nature of things they are compelled 
to do. No power of analytical grasp, no refine- 
ment of infinitesimal arithmetic can reach the 
being and attributes of God. The philosopher 
and mathematician is compelled to begin exactly 
where Moses left off. In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth, says Moses, 
and admitting this declaration, the philosopher 
undertakes to discover the plan according to 
which this creation was effected, and by means 
of which it is now maintained. The sun, the 
moon, the planets, the comets, the stars, exist ; 
they roll and shine, measuring time by their 
mighty revolutions, and filling space by their 
sublime orbits. There they are as God created 



292 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

them, and the philosopher simply inquires, Ac- 
cording to what laws do they move ? What recip- 
rocal influences do they exert? "What are the 
forms and limits of their mighty orbits ? What 
the sublime periods of their march through 
space ? What the nature of the dynamic equi- 
librium which links them into groupings of sur- 
passing grandeur? 

It is true that in all these investigations the 
very being of God may be forgotten. For the 
lawgiver we may substitute the laws. Gravi- 
tation may supersede, in mathematical research, 
the omnipotence of God. The laws of motion, 
simple, invariable, eternal, may stand for that 
attribute of Jehovah's will which changeth not, 
the same, yesterday, to-day and forever. The 
sun himself may be shorn of his effulgence : his 
light, and heat, and life, may shrink and fade 
beneath the withering breath of philosophy, and 
this mighty and glorious orb become a material 
heavy point, and all the revolving planets and 
their moons, other material heavy points, at 
definite distances, and with determinate weights, 
and thus the will of God, as manifested in His 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 293 

laws, and the very creations of God as exhibited 
in his suns, and systems, and moving worlds, 
become the mere hypotheses and material points 
in the diagram of the mathematician's slate, — and 
what then? Does this destroy God and his 
attributes ? Does this blot out of the heavens 
the blazing sun ? Does this strike from being, 
planet, and moon, and earth teeming with life, 
and hope, and joy, and love, and immortality ? — 
Never ! They all remain : while the geometer 
grapples these wondrous orbs in their weight, 
dimensions, distances, and motions, with his sub- 
lime analytic machinery, and with gigantic 
intellectual power follows their grand career, — 
the problem solved, the orbit figured, the period 
predicted, — all, all proclaim the being of God, 
the unchangeableness of the laws of His phys- 
ical government, and the grasp of thought with 
which He has endowed His own image, into 
whose nostrils He breathed the breath of life. 
It has been truly sung : 

u The undevout astronomer is mad r ' 



and yet, alas ! w T e are compelled in a few in- 



294 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

stances to confess, that this madness has filled 
the hearts of some whose names have been 
written in letters of living light, on the very 
circle of the heavens. I say a few instances, 
for by far the greater number of the heroes of 
science are to be counted among the devout. 
Copernicus, and Kepler, and Tycho, and Galileo, 
and the prince of philosophers, Newton the im- 
mortal — all looked through nature to nature's 
God's. Kepler, in all his grand investigations, 
commenced his daily toil by invoking the aid of 
Divine wisdom, and Newton's reverence was so 
great, that he never uttered the name of God 
Without reverently lifting his hand to his head, 
feeling the immediate presence of the divinity 
in His material works. And, yet, these are the 
greatest names which the annals of astronomy 
and science can boast, — their investigations were 
more profound, their mathematics deeper than 
most of those could boast, w T ho are now com- 
pelled to acknowledge themselves humble fol- 
lowers of these great luminaries. We say, 
then, that while in minds especially framed 
for pure physical research, there is a tendency 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE 295 

to and undue preponderance of mathematical 
reasoning, the abstractions of science, and the 
mathematics of astronomy, do not of necessity 
lead to skepticism. 

In the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures, 
there is no exhibition of a knowledge of phys- 
ical science, no mathematical investigations. 
Simple declarations are made, and these declara- 
tions arc either in coincidence with or opposed 
to what science now teaches, and it is the lan- 
guage employed in the declaration which we 
propose to re-examine. 

In proclaiming the majesty of God, the He- 
brew prophet exclaims : " Lift up your eyes on 
high, and behold ! He hath created all these things 
that bringeth out their hosts by number, He 
calleth them all by names by the greatness of 
His might." Again, the same prophet proclaims, 
that " God hath measured the waters in the 
hollow of His hand, and meted out the heavens 
with a span, and comprehended the dust of the 
earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains 
in scales, and the hills in a balance." The 
Hebrew poet, addressing the Almighty, uses this 



296 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

sublime language : " Lord my God, thou art 
very great; thou art clothed with honor and 
with majesty : who coverest thyself with light 
as with a garment : who stretchest out the 
heavens like a curtain : who maketh the clouds 
his chariot : who walketh on the wings of the 
wind: who laid the foundations of the earth, 
that it should not be removed forever. Thou 
coverest it with the deep as with a garment." 
So Job declares that God by His spirit hath 
garnished the heavens, His hand hath formed 
the crooked serpent : lo ! these are a part of His 
ways, but the thunders of His power who can 
understand ! Again, the same old author in that 
sublime chapter in which the Lord answers out 
of the whirlwind, asks : " Knowest thou the 
ordinances of heaven, and canst thou set the 
dominion thereof on the earth ?" 

It is needless to multiply quotations. Through- 
out the entire volumes of the Old and New Tes- 
tament, there is is but one opinion expressed by 
every writer in every age, and that opinion not 
only ascribes to God the creation of all things, 
by the word of His power, but God is repre- 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 297 

sented as momentarily sustaining the universe, 
upholding all things by His Divine command. 

Are these views and expressions in accord- 
ance with the present knowledge of the phys- 
ical universe? When we have gone from the 
sun, with its stupendous dimensions, through the 
planetary orbs ; when we have examined their 
admirable organization, and their exquisite equi- 
librium ; when we behold the paths they describe, 
and the ceaseless cycles they fulfil ; when amidst 
never-ending changes we find the earth linked to 
its orbit with fetters of adamant; when we 
behold the admirable adjustment of sun, and 
planet, and satellite, so that in all the revolving 
ages, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, 
and day and night, shall never fail ; when with 
telescopic power we fathom the profundity of 
space, and visit the island universes that stretch 
away in a vast illimitable perspective ; when suns 
and systems tower in grandeur on the right hand 
and on the left, and the womb of space teems 
with glittering worlds like sands on the sea- 
shore ; — with thoughts thus expanded and touch- 
ing the infinite ; with the soul aglow with sub- 
13* 



298 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

limity ; with aspirations exalted, let us turn to the 
language of the Bible, and learn whether it exalts 
the sensations and sentiments we feel or crushes 
them by its weakness and inipotency. Let the 
answer come from the Hebrew Psalmist, from the 
prophets, from the language of those grand 
apocalyptic visions of St. John. I care not 
where it be selected, it furnishes the only fitting 
vehicle to express the thoughts that overwhelm 
us ; and we break out involuntarily in the lan- 
guage of God's own inspiration : " The heavens 
declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth 
his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, 
and night unto night showeth forth knowledge." 
"When I consider thy heavens the work of thy 
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast 
ordained ; Lord, what is man, that thou art mind- 
ful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest 
him." " If I take the wings of the morning and 
fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, lo ! thou 
art there ; if I ascend to the heaven of heavens, 
lo ! thy presence filleth immensity. Thou, and 
thou alone art God over all, and blessed for- 
ever !" 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 299 

Let us examine some of these wonderful 
declarations with more critical attention, and 
learn whether they will bear the test of severe 
analysis. " The heavens declare the glory of 
God, and the firmament showeth forth His handy- 
work." The glory of an earthly monarch is 
derived from the extent and variety of his 
empire ; from the perfection of his laws and per- 
fect manner in which they are administered ; and 
from the consequent happiness and prosperity of 
his subjects. God's empire as displayed in the 
material universe, is thus far immeasurable : no 
sounding line or telescopic ray has ever flung its 
plummet so deep, as to measure its vast pro- 
fundity. The .dimensions of the sun's domain 
are such as to defy the power of human concep- 
tion adequately to grasp. Who can conceive the 
magnitude of the orbit of Neptune, revolving at 
a distance from the sun of no less than three 
thousand millions of miles ? But this is only a 
minute atom, when we come to consider the dis- 
tance of the fixed stars, whose average distance 
from the sun must exceed the distance of Neptune 
in the enormous ratio of twenty thousand to one ; 



300 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

^50 that while the light of Neptune may reach 
the sun in five hours, that from the fixed stars 
of greatest magnitude, will occupy not less than 
ten years. 

This brings us to the nearest portion of that 
vast congeries of stars which we denominate the 
Milky Way, composed of not less than one hun- 
dred millions of suns, and of such vast propor- 
tions, that light flashing at the rate of twelve 
millions of miles in a single minute could not 
cross its deepest range in less than ten thousand 
years. Leaving the Milky Way and plunging 
yet deeper into space, we find other milky ways 
grander and more populous in stars even than 
our own, until at last our telescopfc ray extends 
so deeply, that its length, furnishing a journey 
for the swift wing of light of more than three 
millions of years, fails to plunge across any other 
mighty depth, and we stand wondering and awe- 
struck on the very threshold of infinitude. 

These statements are not vague conjectures ; 
they are founded in the clearest reasoning, and 
if there be any error it is rather in contracting 
than expanding the just limits of the visible 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 301 

universe. The heavens, then, in their vast, in- 
comprehensible dimensions, and in the uncounted 
millions of their clustering orbs, proclaim the 
glory of God's empire. 

If now we direct our attention to the laws by 
which this vast empire is governed, we find them 
absolutely perfect. Every atom that floats in 
the sunbeam ; every planet that wheels through 
space ; every sun with its family of worlds ; 
every island universe ; all obey the grand laws 
by which absolute perfection reigns wherever 
matter fills the womb of space. These laws are 
not only perfect, but they are perfectly adminis- 
tered. They change not. In all the ages past 
there comes up no evidence that gravitation and 
motion have ever for a single moment relaxed 
their power. But these laws in and of them- 
selves are incapable of producing a system. 
They could not create the sun, or select the 
planets, or project their orbits. This demanded 
the wisdom and power of God. When we be- 
hold the delicate equilibrium which characterizes 
the suns system, in which world is balanced 
against world, and satellite against satellite, in 



802 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

which not one of these multitudinous orbs could 
be displaced, without destroying the harmony 
and perfection of the whole, — in which each 
planet and satellite affects the movement of 
every other, to their disturbing powers a limit 
being fixed beyond which they can never pass, 
so that for countless millions of ages, the earth 
shall roll on in its orbit, giving to its inhabitants 
seed-time and harvest, and summer and winter, 
and, forever silently revolving on its well-poised 
axle, shall teach the dayspring from on high to 
keep its place, and day and night to preserve 
perpetual covenant with God, — we are again led 
to exclaim : — " Surely the heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth 
his handy work !" 

These results are not the offspring of accident, 
they are not the evolutions of blind fatality, 
they are the arrangements of an ever-living 
omnipotent, omniscient power, who can be none 
other than God the Creator. Wisdom infinite, 
is written all over the universe. Wisdom was 
with God from all eternity, from everlasting, from 
Ihe beginning, or ever the earth was. When 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 303 

there were no depths, wisdom was brought 
forth, — so hath the finger of inspiration writ- 
ten — " while as yet He had not made the earth 
nor the fields. When He prepared the heavens I 
was there : when He set a compass on the face 
of the depth : when He established the clouds 
above : when He strengthened the fountains of 
the deep : when He gave to the sea His decree, 
that the waters should not pass His command- 
ment : when He appointed the foundations of 
the earth." The wisdom of God reigns supreme 
throughout the manifold works of His creation. 
Thus is it written in the word of God, and thus 
is it recorded in the celestial machinery which is 
recorded on high. 

We are now so much accustomed to the em- 
ployment of the language of the Bible, in the 
expression of our thoughts concerning nature, 
that we scarcely recognize the astonishing char- 
acter of the fact that this harmony exists. We 
are almost led to the conclusion that it could not 
be otherwise, the language is so exact and so 
apposite ; the expressions so powerful, that it 
would seem that he who coined these phrases 



304 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

must have possessed an intimate knowledge of 
the objects to which they are applied. 

We must constantly bear in mind the fact, 
that all the books of the Bible were closed before 
the dawn of modern science. No knowledge of 
the true mechanism of the universe then existed, 
and for ages after the last book of the Hebrew 
scriptures was written and the revelation sealed, 
a false system prevailed and exerted an unbroken 
sway over the human mind. Had this old doc- 
trine of Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer, been 
demonstrated to be absolutely true, then the 
superlative language of the Bible could not have 
been applied, and the heavens would not have 
declared the glory of God, neither would the 
firmament have shown forth his handy work. 
The complexity and cumbrousness of the Ptole- 
maic system grew to such vast dimensions, that 
human genius revolted, and reached the con- 
clusion : — either that such a universe had not 
sprung from the hand of an omniscient God, or 
that the true system of nature remained to be 
discovered. 

Indeed at the time when Galileo attacked with 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 305 

so much power the hoary doctrines of the Greek 
astronomers, and when the Church ignorantly 
fearing lest faith in the inspiration of the Bible 
might be shaken by the subversion of the Ptole- 
maic system, with what vehemence might Gali- 
leo have retorted, that these same sacred books 
assert that the heavens declare the glory of God, 
that the firmament showeth His handy work ; that 
God had created all things in wisdom and by the 
word of His power ; that it was only by aban- 
doning these false systems that it became pos- 
sible to verify the declarations of the sacred 
text; that as there was but one God, so there 
could be only one single plan throughout the 
created universe. 

Let us now pass from these general expres- 
sions of scripture, to those which are more 
specific. It may be contended that the language 
we have cited would naturally flow from a con- 
templation of the splendid spectacle presented in 
the nocturnal heavens, and that the power of 
an eastern imagination has been wonderfully 
successful in picturing the true glories of the 
universe. 



30G THE LANGUAGE OE THE BIBLE. 

We find in the Hebrew prophets an occasional 
use of astronomical facts, to affirm and intensify 
a declaration. Thus, when God would illustrate 
the perpetuity of His covenant with Israel, the 
prophet is made to employ no less than five 
astronomical illustrations to affirm this truth with 
greater power and cogency. " Thus saith the 
Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, 
and the ordinances of the moon, and the stars, 
for a light by night, if these ordinances depart 
from before me then may my promise fail." ".If 
heaven above can be measured, and the founda- 
tions of the earth searched out from beneath, 
then and not till then will I cast off my people." 
" If ye can break my covenant of the day, and 
my covenant of the night, and that there should 
not be day and night in their season ; then may 
my covenant be broken with my servant David." 
"As the host of heaven can not be numbered, 
so will I multiply the seed of David." " If my 
covenant be not with day and night, and if I 
have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and 
earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob." 

Here, then, are five distinct declarations : 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 307 

That God had appointed the ordinances of 
heaven and earth ; the laws by which all the. 
material worlds are governed and that these laws 
could never change. 

That He had made a covenant with day and 
night, absolutely irreversible, so that so long as 
time should last there should be day and night 
in their season. 

That the host of heaven could not be num- 
bered. 

That the foundations of the earth could not 
be searched out from beneath; and, that the 
heavens above could never be measured or their 
mighty depths sounded, by any power of man's 
device. 

Let us proceed to examine these topics in 
order. The ordinances of Heaven and earth, — 
the laws of the physical universe, are never sev- 
ered, — so in Job : " Knowest thou the ordinances 
of heaven, and canst thou set the dominion 
thereof on the earth." Thus, these laws what- 
ever they may be, exert their dominion over the 
objects that shine in the heavens as well as upon 
the earth we inhabit. It is, surely, a remarkable 



308 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

fact that the heavens and the earth are thus 
inseparably united, in the language of the Hebrew 
scriptures, when they are invariably treated with 
positive severance by all the writers of all the 
primitive nations of which we have any record. 
And yet this grand truth has but just been 
revealed by modern science. The law of uni- 
versal gravitation and the laws of motion, sweep 
under their dominion the sun, and moon, and 
planets, and comets, even the distant stars, and 
to this grand list we now add the earth itself, in 
its mass, and in every particle which constitutes 
its mass. Every drop of its ocean ; every atom 
of its cloudy vapors ; every particle of its rugged 
mountains, and broad-spread continents ; even 
the very invariable atmosphere, which like a gar- 
ment of beauty wraps the earth, is subject to 
these same laws. This absolute unity, this one- 
ness of matter, is one of the most overwhelming 
facts of modern science, and yet the ordinances 
of the gleaming heavens and the solid earth are 
one and indivisible. But do the conditions of 
these laws of matter and their perpetuity present 
a fit emblem to illustrate the inviolable nature 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 309 

of a promise made by Him who changeth not, 
who is the Father of light, in whom there is no 
variableness (parallax), nor shadow of change? 
I answer, that there is no way by which we can 
fitly illustrate the perpetuity of God's covenant, 
but by this very invariableness of the ordi- 
nances of heaven and earth. From age to age 
throughout the countless millions of years which 
have poured into the ocean of the past, and 
throughout the innumerable millions which con- 
stitute an eternity to come, we have reason to 
believe these laws will never change. He who 
framed them enacted them in wisdom. He sent 
forth His decree, and it stood fast. He com- 
manded, and they were created : He hath estab- 
lished them for ever and ever ! 

We have already examined the nature of the 
covenant with day and night, and have marked 
the admirable exactitude of the earth's rotation 
on its axis. Could any more forcible illustra- 
tion be given of the unchangeable nature of a 
promise made by Him who taught the dayspring 
from on high to know its place. 

"The host of heaven can not be numbered." 



310 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

In case the stars visible to the unaided vision of 
man had constituted the entire universe, this 
would have been a very feeble illustration of the 
multitudes which should be found among the 
posterity of Israel. The stars visible to the 
naked eye have all been numbered and their 
places fixed, so that not one can disappear with- 
out its loss shall become at once manifest. The 
actual number of stars visible to the eye of man 
does not exceed six or seven thousand, though in 
looking upon a clear sky, on a starlight night, 
the number seems to be vastly greater. At the 
time this passage was written, the host of heaven 
could not have been numbered, and the very in- 
strument which rendered the numbering of the 
then visible host possible brought under the 
gaze of man hundreds of thousands of stars 
which had never before been seen. Every 
accession of telescopic power; every advance 
of human skill and human genius, but the more 
clearly demonstrates the utter impossibility of 
numbering the hosts of heaven. The innumer- 
able stars that powder the zone of the Milky 
Way to the naked eye, find even in the most 



THE LANGUAGF OF THE BIBLE. 311 

powerful telescopes theii exact counterpart in 
other universes so deeply sunk in space, that 
the individual suns which compose their vast 
dimensions are seen but as a faint gleam of 
luminous haze even when we approach, trans- 
ported by telescopic power, to within the thou- 
sandth part of their actual distance. 

If the hosts of heaven can not be numbered, 
so, also, it is impossible to measure the heavens. 
We have, indeed, reached to a tolerable knowl- 
edge of the planetary distances, — and even the 
flight of the comet has been approximately 
measured ; but thus far the stars have nearly 
defied the utmost stretch of human skill and 
science. A few years since, Bessel, the great 
German astronomer, announced that he had 
measured the distance of a double star in the 
Constellation of the Swan. It was a work to 
crown its author with immortality. Subsequent 
investigations have confirmed measurably the 
results of Bessel ; but to show the exceeding 
difficulty of the problem, I need only remark 
that the Russian astronomer, Otto Struve, has 
recently published an elaborate discussion of this 



312 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

great subject, and has reached conclusions which 
differ from those of Bessel by a third part of the 
values reached by the latter; so that a parallactic 
angle fixed by Bessel at thirty-six hundreds of 
one second of arc is determined by Struve to be 
fifty hundredths of the same unit. The dis- 
crepancy between these results can only be 
made manifest by considering the actual differ- 
ence in the distance of two stars whose paral- 
laxes are represented by thirty-six and by fifty 
hundredths of one second of arc. Light would 
reach us from a star whose parallax is thirty- 
six hundredths of one second of arc in about ten 
years ; while the light from a star with a par- 
allax of fifty hundreds of a second would reach 
us in about six years. Thus the discrepancy 
amounts to a distance such that light flying 
at the rate of twelve millions of miles in every 
minute, would not pass it in less than four 
years ! And yet this star is the one whose dis- 
tance has been most perfectly measured. What 
shall we say, then, of the possibility of measur- 
ing the depth of those vast promontories of 
stars which distinguish the Milky Way, where 



star is ranged behind star until the stratum is 
five hundred deep ! or who can conceive of the 
power of those instruments which shall define 
the distances of the clusters and nebulae that 
stretch out to infinitude, and proclaim that the 
heavens can never be measured ? 

I have already considered the meaning of the 
expression, " the foundations of the earth," and 
have shown from the passage in Job that the 
writers seemed to comprehend that these foun- 
dations could never be discovered, for God, who 
stretched out the north over the empty place, 
" founded the earth upon nothing." And yet 
the earth is " established forever ;" that is, the 
condition in which it now exists, the figure of 
its orbit, the mean annual temperature, the 
seasons, the recurrence of day and night, all 
that goes to render the earth habitable, shall 
continue forever. This seems to be the declara- 
tion of the sacred volume; and if science has 
read aright the structure of the planetary worlds, 
these facts are in an equal manner taught by the 
discoveries of modern science.. 

Thus we find an aptness and propriety in all 



314 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

these astronomical illustrations employed by the 
Hebrew prophet, which are not weakened in 
their power, but amazingly strengthened when 
viewed in the full light of our present knowl- 
edge of the natural universe. 

If there be those who still insist that this is 
all accidental, and that it would have been quite 
impossible to have blundered in drawing illustra- 
tions from the unchanging revolutions of Nature. 
I answer that nothing would have been easier 
than to have erred in this very direction. Sup- 
pose the prophet had pointed the Hebrews to 
the polar star, the object that had for centuries 
guided their ancestors in their wanderings and 
journeys, and had uttered the exclamation, 
" Behold yonder star, fixed immovable while 
all else is in motion ; when that star shall swing 
away from its fixed position, then may the pur- 
pose of God fail toward the people of His 
choice." Now, nothing could have been more 
appropriate or seemingly more natural than the 
use of such a similitude, and yet at this day it 
would have been false, for the North Star has 
been slowly departing from its fixed position ; 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 315 

and, should the earth continue, the time will 
come when it will be compelled to yield its 
place, which another star will assume in its turn, 
to be displaced as the revolving ages roll on. 

Thus Ave find a remarkable appropriateness in 
the selections which have been made of the 
phenomena of the heavens, to illustrate the 
teachings of prophetic declaration. They were 
appropriate to the age in which they were writ- 
ten, they have been appropriate in all succeeding 
ages down to the present time, and science 
assures us they can now never fail. Can all 
this have resulted from accident ? Can so great 
a multitude of thoughts, expressions, doctrines, 
illustrations, and similitudes, have all risen by 
accident into appropriate use among so many 
writers, so widely separated in time ? If it be 
argued that after all there is nothing in all this 
language, in all these expressions, in all these 
illustrations, and that it is but the perversions 
of an ingenious fancy which gives to them an 
appearance of appropriateness, it must still be 
admitted that it is certainly very wonderful 
that such a multitude of independent expres- 



316 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

sions should be capable of being woven into a 
texture of astonishing harmony and beauty. 

I will not further multiply examples. Search 
the old prophets, the Psalms, the book of Job, 
even the New Testament, and in all these books, 
wherever any allusion is made to the physical 
heavens, it seems to have been written by one 
possessing the highest intelligence, the most pro- 
found knowledge. 

There is but one solitary instance in which an 
author of any one book in the Bible, was brought 
face to face with the philosophy of antiquity. 
This was the celebrated meeting between the 
great Apostle of the Gentiles with the Stoics 
and Epicureans, on Mars' Hill, in Athens. As 
already stated, the Stoics did not admit the 
power of God to create the material of the uni- 
verse. He could only arrange and organize 
what had existed from all eternity. He could 
banish old Night and subdue the empire of Chaos, 
but had no creative power. The Epicureans on 
the other hand were atheists, or at least their 
theism severed the divinity from all concern in 
either the physical or moral universe. As the 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 317 

existent condition of matter, its organization 
into suns and systems, and vegetable and animal 
life, were all the result of accident, of course the 
philosophers of this school did not admit the 
providence of God. 

Paul, who was learned in the Hebrew scrip- 
tures, and who had been educated in the law at 
the feet of Gamaliel, even as a Jew, and much 
more as a Christian, had imbibed the doctrine 
so universally taught in the Bible, that all 
nature is but the offspring of the creative energy 
of the Divine will. 

Here we find, then, the representatives of the 
doctrines of the Old and New Testament, both 
in philosophy and religion — the two great con- 
cerns of humanity — brought face to face with the 
philosophers and priests of Paganism, and under 
circumstances of most extraordinary grandeur. 

The scene was the Areopagus, on Mars Hill, 
the most venerated and revered court of all 
antiquity. Here, in seats hewn from the solid 
rocks, sat the judges, whose decree fixed not 
only the fate of individuals, but of empires. On 
every hand the temples of the Pagan divinities 



318 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

reared their beautiful or majestic forms. Statues 
of men, heroes, and gods, in uncounted numbers, 
filled every niche and crowned every rock on 
this lofty eminence. The sublime form of the 
colossal statue of Minerva, the tutelary divinity 
of Athens, reared its majestic proportions, "tow- 
ering from the rock of the Acropolis." There 
were the shrines of all the divinities, the temples 
of all the gods, the sanctuary of the vengeful 
furies, and, in full sight, the very gardens where 
Socrates had poured forth his lessons of wisdom, 
where Zeno had organized his stern stoical 
school of philosophy, and where Epicurus had 
captivated weak humanity with his doctrines of 
graceful ease or refined sensuality. 

Such were the circumstances surrounding the 
representative of the philosophy and the religion 
of the Bible. Rising, doubtless, under a full 
sense of the greatness of his responsibility, Paul 
uttered that marvelous discourse, in which he 
exclaims, " Athenians ! I perceive that in 
all things ye are too superstitious ; for as I 
passed by and beheld your devotions, I found 
an altar with this inscription, ' To the unknown 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 819 

God.' Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, 
Him declare I unto you. God that made the 
world and all things therein, seeing that He 
is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in 
temples made with hands ; neither is worshiped 
with men's hands, as though He needed any 
thing : seeing that He giveth to all life, and 
breath, and all things. Forasmuch, then, as we 
are the offspring of God, we ought not to think 
that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or 
stone, graven by art and man's device." Your 
philosophy, stoics ! is false. God's creative 
energy built this magnificent universe, and God's 
almighty power guides universal nature. Your 
divinity, Epicureans ! wrapt in somber abstrac- 
tion, beholding, from afar, with indifference the 
affairs of men, is not the divinity of truth; for 
we also are the offspring of the "unknown God," 
and in Him we live and move and have our 
being. Your religion, priests ! is false, and 
your shrines and splendid •- temples, and statues 
of marble and bronze and gold, glittering with 
precious stones, graven by art and man's device, 
are but a mockery ; for this unknown God, who 



320 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

built the heavens and the earth and who sus- 
taineth all things by the might of His power, 
dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Turn 
then, priests and philosophers! from your 
idolatry and philosophy, to this unknown God 
whom ye ignorantly worship ; repent, for He 
hath appointed a day in the which He will judge 
the world in righteousness. 

What response could Pagan philosophy or 
Pagan idolatry make to this appeal of the Chris- 
tian hero; and what response can modern phi- 
losophy make this day to the same appeal ? God 
has breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, 
and man has become a living soul. Say what 
we may, we are the offspring of God, and as His 
children we are the heirs of immortality ; we may 
defy the Omnipotent and incur His frown, which 
withers our very being ; or we may bring our 
hearts and souls in unison with God's holiness, 
and under his beneficent smile be filled with joy 
and happiness inexpressible and full of glory ! 

God hath given us the power to scan the uni- 
verse, to detect its laws, to learn its stupendous 
organization, to lift the soul of man nearer to 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 321 

His Divine presence. Where shall the guilty 
find a refuge ? Surely not in the iron — the ada- 
mantine laws of physical nature. Suppose, it were 
possible to endow one of these flying worlds — 
the earth we inhabit — with a will and a rational 
soul; and the earth, now an independent, think- 
ing, willing being, should rise in rebellion against 
the laws of God's control, and refuse longer to 
obey. The rebellious planet exclaims, Let the 
sun attract me never so much, I care not for his 
heat, his light, his life, I refuse to reciprocate the 
attraction : I have a power of will supreme, my 
destiny is my own ! And thus the fatal decision 
is made. Slowly the rebel world wheels at each 
revolution, farther and yet farther from the great 
center of life and light. In spiral circuit it sepa- 
rates farther and still farther from its wonted 
path, till finally, cold and darkness and a coming 
death begin to assert their empire over the mis- 
guided world. With a start of horror and a 
shudder which shakes it to the very center, it 
now wakes from its dream of independence and 
exclaims, I will return ! I will return ! Alas ! 
the return is impossible. The laws of nature 

14* 



322 THE LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE. 

are irrevocable. The sun may yet attract with 
living power the lost wanderer, but the bond is 
broken, the equilibrium is forever destroyed, and 
this rebel planet must become a wandering star 
for which is reserved the blackness of darkness 
forever ! 

No, my friends ; the analogies of nature, 
applied to the moral government of God, would 
crush all hope in the sinful soul. There, for 
millions of ages, these stern laws have reigned 
supreme. There is no deviation, no modifica- 
tion, no yielding to the refractory or disobedient. 
All is harmony, because all is obedience. Close 
forever, if you will, this strange book claiming 
to be God's revelation, — blot out forever its 
lessons of God's creative power, God's super' 
abounding providence, God's fatherhood and 
loving guardianship to man his erring offspring, 
and then unseal the leaves of that mighty vol- 
ume which the finger of God has written in the 
stars of heaven, and in these flashing letters of 
living light we read only the dread sentence, 
" The soul that sinneth it shall surely die P 

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